Out of the recorded 1634 who tried to commit suicide 822 were adult male, 574 female, 92 cases of male children and 146 cases of female children.
The report further disclosed that suicide is becoming a public health problem in Pakistan.
Globally, suicidal behaviour is increasingly associated with young people, influenced by socio-economic factors such as unemployment and poverty. Across South Asia, suicidal deaths are on the rise due to the leading factors such as poverty, social change, economic insecurity, drug abuse, depression and breakdown of family ties.
Karachi remained atop with 611 cases of both attempted and committed suicide, Lahore followed by 583 cases, 162 cases in Hyderabad, 140 in Gujranwala, 136 in Dadu, 82 in Ferozewala, 74 in Larkana, 69 cases in Peshawar, 63 cases of suicide in Tando Adam, 59 cases in Gujrat, 56 in Khairpur, 50 cases each in Rawalpindi and Quetta, 48 cases in Multan, 45 cases in Faisalabad, 36 cases each in Digri and Hala, 35 cases in Mirpurkhas, 33 cases in Sukkur, 32 cases in Islamabad, 24 cases each in Sargodha and Sahiwal, 20 cases in Mardan, 17 cases in Mailsi, 15 cases in Thatta and Bannu each where as Chitral, Shahdadpur and Hafizabad shared the same magnitude of 14 cases each.
The government must immediately pursue a focused plan of action in its forthcoming youth policy based on sound intervention that reflects a commitment to equity, ethics, human rights and gender equality to curb suicidal behaviour.