India reported an average 381 suicidal deaths per day in 2019 with the total number of such fatalities standing at 1,39,123 during the year, according to the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The figures for 2019 suggest a 3.4 per cent jump in suicides (1,39,123) in contrast to 2018 (1,34,516) and 2017 (1,29,887), according to the data.
The rate of suicide (incidents per 1 lakh population) marginally rose by 0.2 per cent in 2019 over 2018.
The suicide rate in cities (13.9 per cent) was higher as compared to all-India suicide rate (10.4 per cent) in 2019, revealed the NCRB statistics.
Suicide by ''hanging'' (53.6 per cent), ‘consuming poison’ (25.8 per cent), ''drowning'' (5.2 per cent) and ''self-immolation'' (3.8 per cent) were the prominent means of committing suicides during the year, the data for 2019 highlighted.
Family problems (other than marriage-related issues) were behind 32.4 per cent of suicides, marriage-related problems (5.5 per cent) and illness (17.1 per cent) together accounted for 55 per cent of the total suicides in the country in 2019.
For every 100 suicidal deaths, 70.2 were male and 29.8 females, as per the NCRB data collated from the recorded police cases.
About 68.4 per cent of the male victims were married, whereas the ratio was 62.5 per cent for female victims.
Maharashtra topped the list in number of suicides with 18,916 cases followed by 13,493 in Tamil Nadu, 12,665 in West Bengal, 12,457 in Madhya Pradesh and 11,288 in Karnataka, accounting for 13.6 per cent, 9.7 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 9 per cent and 8.1 per cent of total such casualties respectively.
These five states together accounted for 49.5 per cent of the total suicides reported in the country and the rest 50.5 per cent suicides were reported in the remaining 24 States and seven Union Territories, the data suggested.
Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, reported comparatively lower percentage share of suicidal deaths, accounting for only 3.9 per cent of the total suicides in the country.
Maximum cases of mass/family suicide were reported from Tamil Nadu (16) followed by Andhra Pradesh (14), Kerala (11), Punjab (9) and Rajasthan (7), reveals the NCRB data.
As much as 12.6 per cent suicide victims were illiterate, 16.3 per cent up to primary level, 19.6 per cent up to middle level and 23.3 per cent up to matric level. Just 3.7 per cent of total suicide victims were graduates and above in educational qualification.