In 2016 the number of suicides in India had increased to 230,314. Suicide was the most common cause of death in both the age groups of 15–29 years and 15–39 years. About 800,000 people die by suicide worldwide every year, of these 135,000 are residents of India, a nation with 17.5% of world population. Between 1987 and 2007, the suicide rate increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000, with higher suicide rates in southern and eastern states of India. In 2012, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal had the highest proportion of suicides. Among large population states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala had the highest suicide rates per 100,000 people in 2012. The male to female suicide ratio has been about 2:1. Estimates for number of suicides in India vary. For example, a study published in The Lancet projected 187,000 suicides in India in 2010, while official data by the Government of India claims 134,600 suicides in the same year. According to WHO data, the age standardized suicide rate in India is 16.4 per 100,000 for women and 25.8 for men.
Definition
The Government of India classifies a death as suicide if it meets the following three criteria:
it is an unnatural death,
the intent to die originated within the person,
there is a reason for the person to end his or her life. The reason may have been specified in a suicide note or unspecified.
If one of these criteria is not met, the death may be classified as death because of illness, murder or in another statistical.
In India, about 46,000 suicides occurred each in 15–29 and 30–44 age groups in 2012 – or about 34% each of all suicides.
Method of suicide in India
Poisoning, hanging and self-immolation were the primary methods used to die by suicide in 2012.
Literacy
In 2012, 80% of the suicide victims were literate, higher than the national average literacy rate of 74%.
Suicide in cities
There were 19,120 suicides in India's largest 53 cities. In the year 2012, Chennai reported the highest total number of suicides at 2,183, followed by Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai . Jabalpur followed by Kollam reported the highest rate of suicides at 45.1 and 40.5 per 100,000 people respectively, about 4 times higher than national average rate. There is a wide variation in suicide rates, year to year, among Indian cities. As well in Punjab suicide rate increase for bank issues.
Gender
On average, male suicide rate is twice that of females. However, there is a wide variation in this ratio at the regional level. West Bengal reported 6,277 female suicides, the highest among all states of India, and a ratio of male to female suicides at 4:3.
Dynamics
Domestic violence
Domestic violence is a major risk factor for suicide in a case study performed in Bangalore. However, as a fraction of total suicides, violence against women – such as domestic violence, rape, incest and dowry – accounted for less than 4% of total suicides.
Suicide motivated by politics
Suicides motivated by ideology doubled between 2006 and 2008.
India's economy vastly depends on agriculture with around 60% of its people directly or indirectly depend upon it. Different reasons like droughts, low yield prices, exploitation by middlemen and inability to pay loans lead Indian farmers to die by suicide.
Student suicides in India
According to 2015 data from the National Crime Records Bureau, 8934 students are committing suicide every year. That's one student every hour. Despite being one of the most advanced states in India, Maharashtra has the highest number of student suicides with 1230 of the 8934 suicides occurring here and Tamil Nadu has the second highest with 955 of the 8934 suicides. Every hour one student commits suicide in India, with about 28 such suicides reported every day, according to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau. The NCRB data shows that 10,159 students died by suicide in 2018, an increase from 9,905 in 2017, and 9,478 in 2016.
Promoting psychological motivational sessions and meditation and yoga. State-led policies are being enforced to decrease the high suicide rate among farmers of Karnataka.
