A report released by India's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said suicides in the country showed an increase of 10 percent in 2020 amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the report released on Thursday, daily wage earners, the self-employed and housewives had the highest numbers among those who took their own lives.
"A total of 153,052 suicides were reported in the country during 2020 showing an increase of 10.0 percent in comparison to 2019," the report said.
Out of total 108,532 male suicides, maximum suicides were committed by daily wage earners (33,164) followed by self employed persons (15,990) and unemployed persons (12,893). A total of 44,498 females committed suicides during 2020 in the country. Of females who committed suicides, the highest number (22,372) was of housewives followed by students (5,559) and daily wage earners (4,493), it showed.
NCRB's Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report is the official source of statistics on the number of accidents and deaths by accident or suicides in India.
Out of the megacities, the national capital saw the highest suicides, with over a 24 percent rise in 2020 compared to 2019, followed by Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai. These four cities together have seen almost 37.4 percent of the total cases reported from 53 megacities.
The report said a total of 10,677 persons involved in farming sector (consisting of 5,579 farmers/cultivators and 5,098 agricultural labourers) have committed suicides during 2020, accounting for 7.0 percent of total suicides victims (1,53,052) in the country.
The report said family problems and illness were the major causes of suicides which accounted for 33.6 percent and 18.0 percent of total suicides respectively during 2020.
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