The Crisis of High Suicide Rates in Jordan: Who is Responsible?

21% of suicides in Jordan were due to unemployment

Feb-11-2016

(SALEM, Ore.) - A few days after a young man tried to set fire on himself in the northern Hashemi region, the crisis of the high rates of suicide came to back to the forefront.

A security source explained that the young man threatened to set himself on fire while he was inside his house, but later was dissuaded from committing suicide.

Social network users questioned Jordanian authorities' claims that the young man was suffering from mental disorders, stressing that the new attempt to commit suicide happened due to difficult economic conditions plaguing the young man for the past three years.

On the other hand, the Director of the National Center for Forensic Medicine, Momin Hadidi, stressed that "in the past few years suicides increased to 50-70 attempts, while it was 20 cases annually in the years that preceded it."

A report released by the World Health Organization and the International Society for the prevention of suicides disclosed that 21% of suicides in Jordan came due to unemployment.

As these numbers are based only on annual report of the CID of Jordan, many believes that the numbers might be far beyond the official report presented by the Jordanian authorities.

The Jordanian al-Ghad newspaper addressed prevalent corruption, poverty, unemployment and the failure of the state to establish vital and developmental projects for young people in the governorates of Jordan and the impact of these factors on the increasing numbers of suicides in the country.

Observers consider this dangerous phenomenon as the result of the absence of law and the fight against corruption and the supremacy of law for every citizen regardless of their social background.