Abstract:
Elderly people have a higher risk of committing suicide than any other age group worldwide. In Sri
Lanka, 60 years and above is considered the demarcation age in identifying the elderly population.
Suicides among adult males have significantly contributed to the rise in suicides (Thalagala, 2009). In
current suicide trends, an increasing trend in elderly suicide rates in Sri Lanka could be identified.
Therefore, the main objective of this study to investigate modes of suicides, reasons for suicides and the
nature of occupation of those who commit suicide, with special reference to suicides among the elderly
people in Sri Lanka. This study is based on secondary quantitative data obtained from the Department of
Police in 2016. Reporting suicides to the police is mandatory in Sri Lanka and these reports are
systematically collected in a data base at the Statistical Division of the Department of Police. The sample
size is 734 elderly suicide cases including 620 males and 114 females who were above the age of 60.
According to the reported suicide cases, a majority of the elderly suicide mode was strangling (45.5%).
Most of the suicide cases were reported among male elders (84.5%) with female elderly suicide
percentage being 15.5%. Chronic diseases and physical disabilities (29.6%) have been a major reason for
elderly suicides. When considering the nature of occupations of the elderly people who committed
suicide, a majority of them were unemployed persons (44.3%). 30.9 % of them were not classified by
their occupation of whom 26.8 were male and 4.09 percent were female. It is therefore important to
address emerging elderly suicide issues in Sri Lanka.
