Suicide rates in Sri Lanka have fallen by almost two-thirds since the late 1990s

In the late 1990s, Sri Lanka had one of the highest suicide rates in the world: three times the global average and four times the rate in countries like the United States or the United Kingdom.

The most frequent method of suicide was self-poisoning, particularly from pesticides.

But since then, suicide rates have fallen by almost two-thirds. You can see this in the chart.

The biggest driver of this improvement was the banning of particularly toxic pesticides. Two highly hazardous pesticides were initially banned in 1984, and five more were banned in 1995. This slowed the growth in suicide rates, and the trend eventually turned the corner into a strong decline.

Sri Lanka’s experience in the last few decades makes it clear that suicide rates are not “fixed” at a particular level, and there are things that can be done to reduce them.

Suicide rates have declined in many countries over decades: read our insight →

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Our World in Data. “Suicide rates in Sri Lanka have fallen by almost two-thirds since the late 1990s” by Hannah Ritchie, published by Our World in Data under CC BY 4.0. Changed here: set as a page, its interactive charts shown as pictures. Data from third parties keeps its own licence.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.