Last year, more people died by suicide in India than the number of lives lost due to COVID-19 according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The country recorded  153,053 deaths by suicide whereas close to 150,000 people succumbed to COVID-19 infection in 2020.

An increase of 10 per cent in the number of deaths by suicide was recorded in 2020 as compared to 2019. Also, daily wagers constituted the biggest share of the suicide cases toll at 37,666 or 24.6 per cent of such cases. 

The NCRB report titled Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2020 noted that the increase in terms of suicide cases between 2019 to 2020 was  8.7 per cent. NCRB is a government agency that falls under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. It collects and analyses crime data as defined by the laws of the land. 

As per the data for 2020, almost 90 per cent of the daily wage earners who died of suicide were male. 

The number of daily wage earners dying by suicide is on the rise. In 2019, the figure stood at almost 24 per cent or 32, 559 daily wage earners who died by suicide, whereas in 2018 the share was 22.4 per cent (30,124), in 2017 it was 22.1 per cent (28,737), while in 2016 it was 19.2 per cent (21, 902). 

Also Read : Daily wage earners dying of suicide jump from 18% to 24% in the last five years: NCRB

The overall male to female ratio of suicide victims for the year 2020 was 70.9 : 29.1 which is slightly more than the 2019 figure of 70.2 : 29.8. Of the 44, 498 females who committed suicides during 2020, housewives had the highest share of 50.3 per cent (22, 372) of the total female victims whereas their share in total deaths by suicide was 14.6 per cent. 

Talking about farmers suicide, a total of 10,677 people involved in agricultural sector died by suicide in 2020. This included 5, 579 farmers or cultivators, and 5, 098 agricultural labourers. Five states like West Bengal, Bihar, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand and five union territories such as Chandigarh, Delhi, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Puducherry reported zero suicides by farmers, cultivators and agricultural labourers.  

Also Read : Overwhelmed by debts, crop loss and his wife’s cancer treatment, farmer Anil Kumar Singh ended his life

According to the report,  ‘Family Problems’ and ‘Illness’ were the major causes of suicides which accounted for 33.6 per cent and 18.0 per cent of total suicides respectively during 2020. 

NCRB also provides breakdown of the deaths by suicides on the basis of economic status of the victims. It reported that 63.6 per cent (96, 810) of the suicide victims in 2020 had an annual income of less than Rs 1 00, 000 whereas 32.2 per cent (49, 270) of suicide victims belonged to annual income group of Rs 100,000- Rs 500,000. 

Majority of suicides were reported in Maharashtra (19,909), followed by Tamil Nadu (16,883), Madhya Pradesh (14,758), West Bengal (13,103) and Karnataka (12, 259) – these states together accounted for 50.1 per cent of the total suicides reported in the country. Uttarakhand (82.8 per cent), Mizoram (54.3 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (46.7 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (42.9 per cent), and Assam (36.8 per cent) witnessed a significant percentage increase in suicides in 2020 as compared to 2019.