Economic crisis drives people to suicide: Suicide rate among higher education graduates increased by 334 percent

According to data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), 300 citizens died by suicide at the end of 2022 due to financial hardship, while a total of 5,712 citizens died by suicide for the same reason between 2002 and 2022. 

ALARMING INCREASE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Between 2018 and the end of 2022, 1,477 citizens died by suicide due to financial hardship.

When looking at the distribution of those who died by suicide, it was revealed that 635 of them were higher education graduates at the end of 2022. In 2002, this figure was 146. The figures revealed that suicides among higher education graduates increased by 334.93 percent. 

FINANCIAL HARDSHIP LEADS THE WAY

At the end of 2022, 81 citizens under the age of 15, 410 between the ages of 15-19, 544 between the ages of 20-24, and 568 between the ages of 25-29 died by suicide. It was stated that the primary factors leading to these data were concerns about the future. 

"SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PRESSURES HAVE INCREASED SUICIDE CASES"

According to the report by Oğulcan Aydın from BirGün, CHP Deputy and Party Assembly (PM) member Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi announced that the total number of suicides according to 2022 statistics was 4,146. 

İlgezdi stated, “Especially financial hardship, unemployment, and rising food and housing prices are driving our citizens to suicide. The biggest reason for the increase in suicide rates in recent years is the impoverishment of our people and the loss of hope for the future. Because the government, which is responsible for establishing a livable social state, is not fulfilling its duty, our citizens are turning to suicide out of desperation. The 24 percent increase in suicide cases since 2017, when the Presidential Government System was adopted, is proof that the poor management, inadequate health services, and increasing social-political pressures brought by the one-man regime have also increased suicide cases.” 

"THE GOVERNMENT IS THE PRIMARY ARCHITECT OF THIS ENVIRONMENT"

Expressing that the government pushes people into desperation, İlgezdi said, “Deepening economic crisis, chronic unemployment, and deep-rooted social problems such as learned poverty have increased suicide cases. The increase in suicide rates is the clearest indicator of the magnitude of the economic and social problems created by the AKP and the government's inability to cope with these problems. The tendency toward suicide increases in direct proportion to the lack of solutions to the social problems created by the economic crisis. The government, which denies our people even basic rights, namely education and food, is the primary architect of this environment,” she said. 

News Source: 12punto