Bangladesh is experiencing a significant increase in suicide cases, with an average of 40 individuals taking their lives daily across the nation. Additional Inspector General of Bangladesh Police (Crime), Md Ashraful Islam, disclosed this information at an event held at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDRB) in Dhaka. Jashore stands out with the highest number of suicide cases among Bangladesh’s districts.
The event, a collaboration between ICDDRB, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), and the World Health Organisation (WHO), centered on discussions regarding the draft Bangladesh National Suicide Prevention Plan, as reported by Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo. Despite the reliance of public health experts and researchers on suicide-related data from the WHO, speakers at the event highlighted a lack of substantial prevention efforts in the country.
Mahbubur Rahman, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, stressed at the event that effective suicide prevention necessitates coordinated actions across various ministries, including health, agriculture, home affairs, education, religious affairs, and information ministries, along with other stakeholders. Police data indicate that the number of suicides in Bangladesh surpasses WHO estimates, based on law enforcement agencies’ records of suicide-related unnatural deaths.
Additional Inspector General Ashraful Islam presented nationwide data on “suicide-related unnatural deaths” spanning from 2020 to 2024 and January to October of this year. The data reveals that 73,597 individuals died by suicide in Bangladesh between 2020 and 2024, averaging 14,719 suicides annually, or approximately 40 suicides per day. From January to October 2025, a total of 12,335 suicide cases were recorded, with an average of about 41 cases daily, slightly higher than in previous years.
Police records categorize suicide methods into various types, including hanging, poisoning, self-immolation, jumping in front of trains, and others, with hanging being the most prevalent method, followed by poisoning. Among Bangladesh’s 64 districts, Jashore reported the highest number of suicide-related unnatural death cases, with 1,454 cases recorded between October 2022 and October 2025. Dhaka district followed with 1,402 cases, while Cumilla recorded 1,288 cases during the same period.
