Shafaq News- Baghdad

A woman died by suicide in Baghdad on Sunday after setting herself on fire inside her home, a security source told Shafaq News, days after the Iraqi capital recorded four other suicide cases in a single day.

Civil Defense teams extinguished the resulting blaze at the residence in the city's Shula district, while the body of the woman, born in 1999, was transferred to the forensic medicine department to complete legal procedures.

Security authorities have opened an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the case.

According to a 2025 report by Iraq’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the country records an average of 55 to 70 suicides per month, with cases rising from roughly 1,100 in 2022 to about 1,300 in 2023 and nearing 1,500 in 2024. Experts, who previously spoke to Shafaq News, attributed the increase to a combination of economic hardship, unemployment, family and social pressures, untreated mental health conditions, and the long-term effects of conflict and displacement.

Read more: When life feels closed from all sides: Iraq’s rising suicide cases