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BANGALORE, INDIA, Jan 11, 2002: Bangalore, India’s high-tech capital and one of the world’s leading technology hubs, tops the nation in the number of suicides. A team of researchers headed by Dr. G. Gururaj and Dr. Mohan Isaac from the Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences found that the city’s suicide rate is 35 per 100,000, compared to the national average of 11 per 100,000. Their study, Epidemiology of Suicides In Bangalore, also found that the cases of attempted suicides were 10 times that of actual suicides. The five major causes of suicide in Bangalore are chronic physical illness, conflicts and disturbances within the family, alcohol-related problems, financial problems and unemployment. Underlying all these causes, Dr Gururaj points out, is the phenomenal change that the city has undergone in the past ten years. Just a little over a decade back, Bangalore, with a population of less than four million, had a laid-back lifestyle. But today, it is one of the world’s most dynamic technology hubs with a population of over six million. Indeed, it is the only city in India to have undergone such a tremendous transformation during the last decade. This change, says Dr. Gururaj, has been accompanied by a high degree of migration, resulting in cultural alienation and a lack of social support network. There have also been tremendous changes in lifestyle and values. These have led to conflicts within people that are manifested in different ways such as illness, alcoholism and financial problems. The availability of alcohol is a significant contributory factor to the high suicide rate. Also known as the Pub City, Bangalore is estimated to have 3,500 outlets selling alcohol. Dr Gururaj says that 27 per cent of suicide attempts are made under the influence of alcohol. According to a recent report from the World Health Organization, the suicide rate in the US is 19.3 per hundred thousand, 11 per hundred thousand in the UK and 8.2 per hundred thousand in Israel.

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