Introduction: Self- immolation is considered as a great tragedy for the families. This study was conducted aiming to identify related factors and determine the epidemiological characteristics of suicide attempters in Ilam province during the years 2011 to 2015.

Materials & methods: In a descriptive study, all medical records of self-immolation patients were studied over a period of 5 years. The required information was collected and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics methods in SPSS 22.

Findings: Results revealed that out of the total 236 people, 168 women (71.2%) and 68 men (28.8%) had the experience of self-immolation. The mean age of the participants was 34.85 years, ranging from 11 to 90 years. 81.4% of those people died due to severe injuries. 6.35% of the total participants were addicted. The mean burn surface area was 80%, ranging from 20% to 100% of body surface burns. In 96.6% of the cases, the ignition-causing material used in the suicide was oil. 55.1% of the individuals were married, 25.8% were illiterate, 68.2% were citizens of the urban areas and 74.2% were housewives or unemployed. Most cases of self-immolation occurred in the spring (28.4%). The mean of incidence and the total years of life lost due to premature death from suicide within five years were 8.43 per one hundred thousand individuals and 8388 years, respectively.

Discussion & conclusions: Paying more attention to the younger generation, especially women, presence of women in society, increasing the awareness and education level of people and having a good job can be effective in preventing and reducing the phenomenon of self-immolation.