Bulgaria Registers Highest Rate of Completed Suicides in Europe

Society » HEALTH | May 26, 2011, Thursday // 13:48
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Registers Highest Rate of Completed Suicides in Europe Photo by onlineweblibrary.com.

Bulgaria has recorded the highest rate of completed suicides in Europe. The country has witnessed a total of 1600 suicide attempts over the past two years, half of them successful.

According to psychologists, the number of youth suicide attempts is on the rise, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) has reported.

Another alarming fact is that the people who have attempted suicide are not being terated by psychologists.

"Every day, a child in Bulgaria makes a suicide attempt", Doctor Mihail Okoliyski, head of the Department of Mental Health at the the National Center of Public Health Protection (NCPHP), told journalists.

According to statistics, the youngest suicide attempt was made by an 8-year-old. Dr. Okoliyski says such acts are ususally driven by family disagreements.

The experts insists on providing children with health and sex education to prepare them for potential risk situations in life

In 2009, a total of 308 kids tried to put an end to their life, 271 of them boys. The oldest man to attempt suicide was 92 years old, the youngest one- 9 years old. A total of 2717 suicide attempts were registered in Bulgaria for the period, 673 of them ended fatally.

"Every fourth Bulgarian is at great risk of developing a mental illness", Okoliyski explains, citing everyday stress as the main cause.

According to Doctor Hristo Hinkov from NCPHP, Bulgaria lacks mental health prevention practices. In his words, an estimated 20% of Bulgarians have experienced some sort of psychological problem.

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Tags: mental illness, mental health, suicide, suicide rate

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