On World Suicide Prevention Day, it is an opportunity to address one of the hidden and overlooked crises in Iranian society: the suicide of women and girls.
According to Hamid Yaghoubi, head of the Suicide Prevention Association, in the past four years, deaths from suicide in Iran have increased by 10% annually. In 2011, the rate was 7.4; it rose to 8.1 in 2022 and reached 8.9 in 2023. Emphasizing that the rate is even higher in 2024, he said it will likely reach 9.7 in 2024.
Hamid Yaghoubi admitted that Iran told the world its suicide rate was 4.3%, which placed the country at rank 160 among 160 countries.
This government expert said: “To reach the relative number of suicide attempts, the number of actual suicides must be multiplied by 20. If the final number is again multiplied by 20, one can reach the relative rate of suicidal thoughts. Based on this formula, in Iran there are annually 152,060 suicide attempts and more than 3,041,000 cases of suicidal thoughts.” (Ham Mihan daily – February 19, 2025)
Based on this calculation, the number of suicides in 2024 amounts to 7,603 persons.
Hamid Yaghoubi, pointing out that “the number of deaths from suicide in 2022 was more than 6,900,” added: “Based on occupational breakdown in Iran, 32% of suicides belong to the working class.”
He added: “Until 2022, suicide statistics in Iran were published by the Legal Medicine Organization and the Ministry of Health, but after that they stopped.” (Ham Mihan – February 19, 2025)
The newspaper Etemad also earlier reported that, based on official statistics, suicide in Iran in 2022 increased by about 51% compared to 2016. (Etemad – January 20, 2025)
The figures recently announced contradict the data announced exactly four years ago.
Habibollah Massoudi Farid, the Welfare Organization’s Social Affairs deputy, announced in 2021 that the deaths of 41,000 people annually due to suicides in Iran. “Many may go to the hospital for suicide attempts, which are not registered at all,” he added. (The state-run khabaronline.ir – July 21, 2021)
Death from Suicide Doubles among Women
Amirhossein Jalali Nadoshan, spokesperson of the Iranian Psychiatric Association, said: “The recent report of the head of the Suicide Prevention Association shows that death from suicide among women has doubled in recent years. Worldwide, suicide attempts are usually more common among women but death rates are lower. But in Iran we have witnessed an increase in deaths among women, which is very concerning.” (Eghtesad News – July 24, 2025)
Suicide among youth aged 15–29 has also been identified as the third leading cause of death in Iran.
The suicide death rate (based on suicide deaths per 100,000 people) has risen from about 0.6 per 100,000 to about 0.9 or even higher, today. (Eghtesad News – July 24, 2025)
Causes of Suicide among Women and Girls
The causes of suicide among Iranian women and girls are diverse and complex. Some of the most important factors include:
Forced marriage and family pressures
- Domestic violence and psychological abuse
- Economic and social problems
The Share of Housewives in Suicide Attempts
Another group of women with a higher share of suicides are housewives. Hamid Yaghoubi, head of the Suicide Prevention Association, announced that in 2022, housewives accounted for 32.8% of suicide attempts, ranking first. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, after 2022 no suicide statistics have been published in Iran. (Ham Mihan – February 19, 2025)
Suicide among Nurses and Healthcare Staff
In recent years, suicide among nurses and healthcare staff in Iran has become a serious crisis. According to reports, nine medical interns committed suicide in four months between March 21 to June 21, 2024. In 2025, suicide among medical interns was reported to be six times higher than in the general population. (Shargh – May 17, 2025)
On May 3, 2025, Rouydad24 reported: In April this year, six healthcare staff members, including five residents and one nurse, lost their lives due to suicide. Among residents, who number 14,000 across the country, on average 13 fatal suicides occur annually. In 2023, this number rose to 16.
Masoud Habibi, deputy minister of culture and student affairs at the Ministry of Health, announced that 1,046 students and medical residents reported suicidal thoughts. (Etemad – May 25, 2025)
Among nurses, suicide statistics are also alarming. Mohammad Sharifi Moghadam, secretary-general of the Nursing House, stated that the suicide rate among nurses is much higher than among doctors, but due to the sensitivity of the issue, these statistics cannot be published. (Asriran – July 23, 2024)
Some of the main factors behind rising suicides among healthcare staff include work pressures, long shifts, lack of psychological support, and poor working conditions. These factors lead to chronic stress and feelings of worthlessness among nurses and doctors.
Examples of Suicides among Women and Girls
Suicide of a female head of household due to dismissal from work
On August 2, 2025, a Baluch woman named Khadijeh Dehqani committed suicide and lost her life after being dismissed from her job by officials at Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences at the behest of the security office.
Khadijeh Dehqani was a female head of the household who supported her family by working in private services at the university.
Suicide due to forced marriage
- On February 2, 2025, a 15-year-old girl in Qorveh, who had been forced into marriage by her father two months earlier, committed suicide.
- On March 4, 2025, Fatima Soleimani, a 12-year-old girl, committed suicide in Harsin due to the pressure of forced marriage.
- On July 4, 2025, Ziba Pazireh, a 12th-grade student in Dishmok, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, committed suicide due to a dispute over marriage. Ziba killed herself with a hunting rifle.
Suicide of doctors and medical students
- Elham Jeldi, a medical student admitted in 2016 at Tehran University, ended her life on August 23, 2025. Elham Jeldi specialized in gynecology and ranked 84th in the 2016 nationwide university entrance exam.
- Narges Mohammadpour, a fourth-year gynecology resident at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, ended her life due to economic pressures and the heavy workload during her three-year residency.
- Zeinab Karimzadeh, a postdoctoral student in plasma physics at Beheshti University, ended her life on August 27, 2025, by throwing herself from the 8th floor of a student dormitory. This talented student had used cold plasma to create advanced nanocomposites capable of transforming the future of energy storage and conversion.
- On the afternoon of Monday, September 8, 2025, a specialist in internal medicine named Akram Shiri ended her life by taking medication in her dormitory. She was working at Iranshahr Hospital in Saravan, in the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province. She was a graduate of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences. Her colleagues and relatives have cited heavy workloads and unbearable working conditions as the main reasons behind this tragedy.
- Medical students are among the silent victims of the collapsed healthcare system of the clerical regime. Suicides of doctors in Iran are no longer rare occurrences but have become a recurring crisis that is each time buried in silence by government officials. (Khabar Online – April 8, 2025)
Government Experts Acknowledge Regime’s Role
In an interview about the increase in suicides in Iran, Amanullah Gharaee-Moghadam, a sociologist and university professor, acknowledged that one of the main reasons for suicide in Iranian society is that people distrust government officials. He added, “The environment in today’s society is conducive to suicide. There are countless reasons for sadness in the country – from the dress code to the music heard in the media. We do not have just one or two problems; we have unemployment, where 30% of the country’s graduates are not working. People do not work in their fields of study. Society is devoid of happiness or hope.”
Elsewhere, Gharaee addressed the ruling authorities, saying, “They say, ‘give birth to more babies!’” They have told girls that their hair was seen. Did they become religious? The structure in Iran is sick. You cannot force society to observe rules from 100 years ago. Today, young people see, hear, and read. They observe the world through their computers.”
