Suicides in India- NCRB 2019 Report

Each suicide is a personal tragedy that prematurely takes the life of an individual and has a continuing ripple effect, dramatically affecting the lives of families, friends and communities. Every year, more than 1,00,000 people commit suicide in our country. There are various causes of suicides like professional/career problems, sense of isolation, abuse, violence, family problems, mental disorders, addiction to alcohol, financial loss, chronic pain etc.

Suicide Rates in Youth

• A total of 1,39,123 suicides were reported in the country during 2019 showing an increase of 3.4% in comparison to 2018 and the rate of suicides has increased by 0.2% during 2019 over 2018.

Number and Percentage Share of Suicides in States/UTs

• The majority of suicides were reported in Maharashtra (18,916) followed by 13,493 suicides in Tamil Nadu, 12,665 suicides in West Bengal, 12,457 suicides in Madhya Pradesh and 11,288 suicides in Karnataka accounting for 13.6%, 9.7%, 9.1%, 9.0% and 8.1% of total suicides respectively.
• These 5 States together accounted for 49.5% of the total suicides reported in the country.
• The remaining 50.5% of suicides were reported in the remaining 24 States and 7 UTs.
• Uttar Pradesh, the most populous State (16.9% share of the country population) has reported a comparatively lower percentage share of suicidal deaths, accounting for only 3.9% of the total suicides reported in the country.

Causes of Suicides

• ‘Family Problems’ and ‘Illness’ were the major causes of suicides, which accounted for 32.4% and 17.1% of total suicides in 2019.
• Other causes of suicide were ‘Drug Abuse/Addiction’ (5.6%), ‘Marriage Related Issues’ (5.5%), ‘Love Affairs’ (4.5%), ‘Bankruptcy or Indebtedness’ (4.2%), ‘Failure in Examination’ and ‘Unemployment’ (2.0% each), ‘Professional/Career Problem’ (1.2%) and ‘Property Dispute’ (1.1%).

Suicides in Cities

• The numbers of suicides in 53 mega cities show an increasing trend during 2016 to 2019. It increased by 0.8% (to 21,408) in 2018 and increased by 4.6% (to 22,390) in 2019.
• Out of total 97,613 male suicides, maximum suicides were committed by daily wage earners (29,092) followed by self-employed persons (14,319) and Unemployed Persons (11,599).
• A total of 41,493 females committed suicide in 2019 in the country. Of females who committed suicides, highest number (21,359) was of house-wives followed by students (4,772) and daily wage earners (3,467).

Economic Status of Suicide Victims

• 66.2% (92,083) of suicide victims in 2019 were having annual income of less than `1 lakh’.
• 29.6% (41,197) of suicide victims belong to annual income group of ‘`1 lakh to less than `5 lakh’.

Educational Status of Suicide Victims

• The maximum numbers of suicide victims (23.3%) (32,427) were educated up to Matriculation/ Secondary level, whereas Middle level educated accounted for 19.6% (27,323), Primary educated (16.3%) (22,649), Hr. Secondary / Intermediate/Pre-University educated (14.0%) (19,508) and Illiterate (12.6%) (17,588).
• Only 3.7% (5,185 out of 1,39,123 victims) of total suicide victims were graduates and above.

Suicide Rate among Women

• As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, 44256, 42521 and 42088 females have committed suicide during 2013 and 2014 and 2015 respectively, which shows a declining trend over these years.
• According to WHO data, the age standardized suicide rate in India is 16.4 per 100,000 for women (6th highest in the world) and 25.8 for men (ranking 22nd).
• Mass/Family Suicides
• Maximum cases of mass/family suicides were reported in Tamil Nadu (16 cases) followed by Andhra Pradesh (14 cases), Kerala(11), Punjab (9 cases) and Rajasthan (7 cases)during 2019.

Government Interventions

1. District Mental Health Programme (DMHP)

• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) since 1982 as part of National Health Mission (NHM), wherein technical and financial support is provided to the States/UTs, based on the proposals received from them, for implementation of the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP).
• The programme aims to provide suicide prevention services, work place stress management, life skills training and counseling in schools and colleges, inter-alia.

2. Ayushman Bharat

• Mental healthcare services have also been added in the package of services under Comprehensive Primary Health Care under Ayushman Bharat – HWC Scheme.

3. SAMVAD

• Ministry of women and Child development, under NIMHANS established a National Initiative & Integrated Resource Centre for Child Protection, Mental Health, and Psychosocial Care named “SAMVAD” at NIMHANS, Bangalore.

3. Family Counselling Centres (FCC)

• Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) under Ministry of Women & Child Development is implementing Family Counselling Centres (FCC) which was introduced by CSWB in 1983.
• The Family Counselling Centres under the scheme provides counselling, referral and rehabilitative services to women and children, who are victims of atrocities, family mal-adjustments and social ostracism and also provide crisis intervention and trauma counselling in case of natural disasters.

5. One Stop Centres (OSCs)
   • Public order, police and public health are State subjects under List-II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Along with States Ministry of Women and Child Development is establishing One Stop Centres (OSCs) for violence affected women across the country under the One Stop Centre Scheme as part of the Nirbhaya Framework with the help of States/UTs for providing legal and psycho-social counselling along with other facilities including temporary shelter, police facilitation and medical support to the women needing the same under one roof in an integrated manner.