South Asian Business news and information

Suicide is common everywhere. I come from South Asia and in South Asia poverty is a major cause of suicide. Take the case of India where hundreds of farmers have committed suicide in the last one decade as they were unable to pay bank loans. And many people in South Asia feel that having some money could save them from all the disasters in life. Indeed, it could but having money is not everything as suicide is common in the rich countries too.

The surprising thing is that the most suicide prone country in the world is not any poor underdeveloped country but one of the most developed countries in the world; Japan. In terms of GDP, it is in the third position. Despite being seriously devastated during the Second World War, the country turned around and with an annual growth rate of 10%, today it is one of the most developed countries of the world. After all these positive qualities, this country has the highest rate of suicide. One of the main reasons is that it is seen as an act of heroism. In many Japanese ancient stories, you would see that Japanese warriors committing suicide for failing to perform their duty. The picture in USA is not rosy either.

As I was browsing the internet I found that India had the highest rate of teen suicide in 2004. Most of the teens that committed suicide were aged 15-19 and lived in South Indian regions. The farmers of this area also commit suicide in large numbers. The latest event took place in Vidarbha, a village of Maharashtra. Most of the farmers of this village are cotton producers and due to bad crops many of them could not pay their debts. As a result, they committed suicide. I also found another news item in BBC titled 'South India suicide is world high'. It shows that suicide rate is extremely high in South India.

After doing some research about suicide, I like to make a comparison of causes that lead people to commit suicide in the rich world and the poor world. By rich world, I am mainly indicating Japan here. While by poor world, I am indicating South Asia.

1. In the rich world especially in Japan, suicide is often related to failure in career. For example, in Japan a slight increase in unemployment rate can increase the number suicides. The reality is that Japan has one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the world. In South Asia, losing jobs hardly motivate people to commit suicide. In fact, South Asian countries have some of the highest unemployment rates in the world.

2. In Japanese society, committing suicide is often portrayed as a heroic act. In South Asia, it is never a normal thing or it is not encouraged either.

3. In India, farmers commit suicide when they are unable to pay loans. Often these loans are just in the range of $1,000-$3,000. In Europe or America, no one kills themselves for such an amount of loan.

4. In South India, more women commit suicide than men. In USA, more men commit suicide then women.

5. In South Asian countries, many women often commit suicide after physically abused. Instead of supporting the women, relatives and neighbors often blame the women for getting abused and this leads to many disasters. On the west, it rarely happens.

6. Human rights abuse lead to many suicides in South Asia. If you look at the South Asian newspapers then you can see that often poor people do not get justice after they suffer any human rights abuse and that is why they break down emotionally and kill themselves. In the developed countries, this does not happen much because of good legal system.

7. Love affair is still not considered to be a very good thing in South Asian countries and many suicides take place because of the fact that people cannot get married to their loved ones. In the developed countries, this rarely happens as getting married or living together with the loved ones is not a big deal here.

8. In the developed countries, family bond is becoming a thing of the past and loneliness causes many deaths. Because of strong family bond in South Asia, loneliness is still not a major concern.

9.  In the poor world, poverty is the major cause of suicide while in the rich world; loneliness and isolation are the major causes.

Suicide is a growing problem in South Asia, especially in India. It is a big problem in Japan too. Hopefully, we can have a world soon with very few people taking their own lives.