Suicides Increased In India In 2021, Maharashtra Reported Maximum Cases: NCRB Data

NCRB Data Report: The number of suicide cases in the country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh has been recorded comparatively less.

A hand of the deceased person (Source: File photo/Getty)

New Delhi: Maharashtra reported the highest number of suicides in 2021, a year that saw 1,64,033 such cases across India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report. According to this report, there has been an increase of 7.2 percent in the cases of suicide in the year 2021 as compared to 2020. At the same time, the suicide rate has increased by 6.2 percent this year.

"Majority of suicides were reported in Maharashtra (22,207), followed by 18,925 suicides in Tamil Nadu, 14,965 suicides in Madhya Pradesh, 13,500 suicides in West Bengal and 13,056 suicides in Karnataka, accounting for 13.5 per cent, 11.5 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 8.2 per cent and 8 per cent of total suicides respectively," the report said as reported by news agency PTI.

The NCRB has said in its report that these five states alone account for 50.4 per cent of the total number of suicides across the country. The remaining 49.6 per cent of cases have been reported in other 23 states and eight union territories. 

At the same time, the number of suicide cases in the country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh has been recorded comparatively less. In UP, this percentage is only 3.6 percent of the suicide cases in the country. Significantly, the population of UP is 16.9 percent of the country's population.

In the year 2021, Delhi has the highest number of suicide cases among the union territories. 2,840 cases of suicide were registered here, followed by Puducherry with 504 cases. The NCRB has also said in its report that in 2021, there were a total of 25,891 suicides in 53 major cities of the country.

The all-India rate of suicide in 2021 was 12 percent. The highest rate of suicide (39.7) was recorded in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It was followed by Sikkim (39.2), Puducherry (31.8), Telangana (26.9) and Kerala (26.9).

(With PTI Inputs)