Men suicide rate triple that of women in Guyana –UN Report

A report released by the United Nations Development Population (UNDP) has shockingly revealed that the suicide rate among men in Guyana is more than three times that of women.

The revelation was made in the 2019 UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) report titled: “Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: inequalities in human development in the 21st Century”. The report was released yesterday by the UNDP in Bagota, Colombia.

According to the report, the suicide rate among males is 46.6 per 100,000 people, while for females, it is 14.2 per 100,000 people – the latter representing less than one-third the rate for females.

What is even more troubling, is the fact that the rates for both men and women, exceed the global
average of 10.5 per 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). High suicide rates is one of the issues that continues to plague Guyana. In 2016 the country’s suicide rate peaked to over 40 per 100,000 persons, while the global average then remained in the mid-20s.

That pushed the country to number one on the list of countries with the highest suicide rates in the world. Subsequently, the government intensified its efforts to tackle not just suicide rates, but mental health issues. Civil society also increased its efforts, which saw the establishment of several non-governmental organisations focusing primarily on mental health.

Meanwhile, the report highlighted that Guyana has made marginal improvements in its overall human development. It was reported that the country’s HDI value increased from 0.654 in 2018 to 0.670 in 2019.

This value has the country ranked as a medium-scale human development country. The UNDP defines the HDI as a summary measure for accessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.

Also in the area of human security, it was disclosed that the prison population is 286 per 100,000 people, while the homicide rate is 14.8 per 100,000 people. Improvements were recorded in the area of poverty, with only 3.4 per cent of the the country’s population living in multidimensional poverty.

However, it was revealed that 6.3 per cent of the country’s working population has a purchasing power parity (PPP) of US$3.1 a day. In other words, 6.3 per cent of the total working population lives on less than GYD$650 a day.

In relation to youth unemployment – those between the ages of 15 and 24 – that currently stands at 22.6 per cent, while total unemployment remains at a steady 12.2 per cent. It was also discovered that 35.2 per cent of youth, ages 15-24 were either not in school or employed.

The UNDP shares that the Index is a way of highlighting the prevalence of socio-economic inequality
around the world, and the shortcomings of key sectors which are responsible for human development.