By Mumtaz Alam, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 12 July 2014: On an average, more than 1.23 lakh persons have committed suicides every year in India during the last decade (2003 – 2013). In 10 years, total number of 12.37 lakh (12,37,008) suicide deaths have occurred in the country. In the year 2003, the number was 1.10 lakh (1,10,851) which rose to 1.34 lakh (1,34,799) in 2013 registering an increase of 21.6%. The latest government report Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2013 has revealed these facts.
Incident of suicide per one lakh population has also gone up in the decade. The suicide rate per one lakh population was 10.4 in 2003 which rose to 11 in 2013, says the report released last week by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a constituent of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The population has increased by 15.0% during the decade while the rate of suicides has increased by 5.7%.
“Accidents and suicides have been claiming a large number of human lives over the years…These rising trends are a cause of concern for the society and policy makers,” said Rajiva Ranjan Verma, Director General of NCRB.
Year
Total No. of Suicides
Rate of Suicides (per one lakh population)
2003
110851
10.4
2004
113697
10.5
2005
113914
10.3
2006
118112
10.5
2007
122637
10.8
2008
125017
10.8
2009
127151
10.9
2010
134599
11.4
2011
135585
11.2
2012
135445
11.2
2013
134799
11
States leading in suicides
According to the report, in 2013, the highest incidents of 16,622 suicides were reported in
Maharashtra followed by 16,601 suicides in Tamil Nadu accounting for 12.3% each of total
suicides. Andhra Pradesh (14,607 suicides), West Bengal (13,055 suicides) and Karnataka
(11,266 suicides) accounted for 10.8%, 9.7% and 8.4% respectively of the total suicides reported in the country. These five states together accounted for 53.5% of the total suicides reported in the country.
Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state (17.0% share of country population) has reported comparatively lower percentage share of suicidal deaths, accounting for only 3.9% of the total suicides reported in the country in 2013.
States with higher % share of suicides during 2011 – 2013
2011
2012
2013
West Bengal
12.2%
Tamil Nadu
14.0%
Maharashtra
12.3%
Maharashtra
11.8%
Maharashtra
13.4%
Tamil Nadu
12.3%
Tamil Nadu
11.8%
Andhra Pradesh
11.8%
Andhra Pradesh
10.8%
Andhra Pradesh
11.1%
Karnataka
10.6%
West Bengal
9.7%
Karnataka
9.3%
Madhya Pradesh
8.1%
Karnataka
8.4%
Delhi has reported the highest number of suicides (2,059) among Union Territories, followed by Puducherry (546).
The states and UTs which have reported significant percentage increase in suicides in
2013 over 2012, were Arunachal Pradesh (76.2%)(from 130 in 2012 to 299 in 2013)
followed by Bihar (39.3%), Uttar Pradesh (19.5%), Nagaland (23.3%) and Haryana
(17.3%).
Family problems, Illness account for over 40% of suicides
‘Family Problems’ and ‘Illness’, accounting for 24.0% and 19.6% respectively, were the major causes of suicides among the specified causes in 2013. ‘Drug Abuse/Addiction’ (3.4%), ‘Love Affairs’ (3.3%), ‘Bankruptcy or Sudden change in economic Status’ (2.0%), ‘Failure in Examination’ (1.8%), ‘Dowry Dispute’ (1.7%) and ‘Unemployment’ (1.6%) were the other causes of suicides.
Over 34% suicide victims were in age group of 15-29 years
The overall male: female ratio of suicide victims for the year 2013 was 67.2:32.8, showing a marginal increase of male and marginal decrease of female ratio as compared to year 2012 (66.2:33.8). The proportion of Boys: Girls suicide victims (up to 14 years of age) were 53.5:46.5 in 2013 as compared to 48.4:51.6 in 2012.
The report says that social and economic causes have led most of the males to commit suicide whereas emotional and personal causes have mainly driven females to end their lives.
Youths (15-29 years) and lower middle-aged people (30-44 years) were the prime groups committing suicides. Around 34.4% suicide victims were youths in the age group of 15-29 years and 33.8% were middle aged persons in the age group 30-44 years.
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