95 percent of all suicides in Afghanistan are committed by women and girls.
According to officials at the Ministry of Public Health yesterday at World Suicide Prevention Day in Kabul, more than 2,500 Afghan women have already committed suicide in 2013. Experts cited extreme levels of violence against women and forced marriage between young girls and grown men as some major reasons for the disproportionate rate.
Minister of Public Health Suraya Dalil said girls ages 16 to 19 are most likely to commit suicide.
Although officials said suicide rates in Afghanistan increased in the last year, another report showed that cases of self-immolation have fallen by 40 percent since 2012.
