418 People Committed Suicide Daily In 2020, Maharashtra Tops List: NCRB

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in an annual report stated the figures for 2020 were more in comparison to 2019 when 139,123 suicides were recorded in the country.

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New Delhi: India, as per the latest Central government data, recorded 153,052 suicides – an average of 418 daily cases – last year.

The National Crime Records Bureau in an annual report stated the figures for 2020 were more in comparison to 2019 when 139,123 suicides were recorded in the country.

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The National Crime Records Bureau, which functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), stated the suicide rate (per lakh population) also increased from 10.4 in 2019 to 11.3 last year, PTI reported.

As per the data, the majority of suicides, 19,909 in total, were reported in Maharashtra followed by 16,883 in Tamil Nadu, 14,578 in Madhya Pradesh, 13,103 in West Bengal and 12,259 in Karnataka accounting for 13 percent, 11 percent, 9.5 percent, 8.6 percent and 8 percent of the total suicides respectively.

The National Crime Records Bureau stated the five states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka together accounted for 50.1 percent of the total suicides reported in the country, while the remaining 49.9 percent were reported from the remaining 23 states and eight Union Territories.

The National Crime Records Bureau added the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh with 16.9 percent share of the country's population, reported a comparatively lower percentage share of suicidal deaths, accounting for only 3.1 percent of the total suicides.

Among the Union Territories, Delhi reported 3,142 suicides followed by Puducherry where 408 suicide cases were reported.

Observing that the suicide rate in cities was higher as compared to all-India suicide rate, the report showed that a total of 23,855 suicides were reported in the 53 mega cities of India last year.

The report showed that family problems (33.6 percent), marriage-related problems (5 percent) and illness (18 percent) together accounted for 56.7 percent of total suicides in the country during 2020, adding the overall male to female ratio of suicide victims was 70.9 to 29.1.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 70,000 people take their own life every year and there are many more people, who attempt suicide across the globe.