‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2011’

Every four minutes, one person takes his own life in this country and one in every five suicides is that of a housewife.
This and other startling figures are part of a government report ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2011’ released here recently.
According to the report, the number of suicides has increased in 2011 by 0.7 per cent to touch 1,35,585, compared to 1,34,599 in the previous year.
West Bengal has reported the highest number of suicides (16,492) accounting for 12.2 per cent, followed by Tamil Nadu (15,963), Maharashtra (15,947), Andhra Pradesh (15,077) and Karnataka (12,622). These five states together accounted for 56.2 per cent of the suicides reported in the country.
“West Bengal reported the highest number of suicide victims in 2009, second highest in 2010 and the highest in 2011. Southern states Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as also Maharashtra have together accounted for 50.2 per cent of suicides reported in the country,” the report said.
Bengaluru (1,717), Chennai (2,438), Delhi (1,385) and Mumbai (1,162) have together reported almost 36.7% of the suicides reported from 53 mega cities.
“It has been observed that social and economic causes have led most of the males to commit suicides whereas emotional and personal causes have mainly driven females to end their lives,” the report said.
The male:female ratio of suicide victims was 65:35. The ratio boys:girls among suicide victims up to 14 years of age was 52:48. Nearly 71.1 per cent of the suicide victims were married males while 68.2 per cent were married females. “One in every five suicides was committed by a housewife,” the report said.