Daily wage earners, self-employed persons accounted for every fourth suicide in 2021: NCRB data

Over 26 percent of the people who died by suicide in 2021 were either daily wage earner or those working as ‘self-employed persons’, says a report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

In contrast to popular perception, ‘family problems’ and ‘illness’ accounted for most such cases, rather than financial woes or a failed love affair, as per the data.

As per the report, while family problems accounted for 33.2 per cent of such deaths, illness accounted for 18.6 per cent of the cases.

Drug abuse/alcoholism and marital issues accounted for 6.4 per cent and 4.8 per cent of such cases respectively, the report stated.

Highlighting that a total of 1,64,033 deaths by suicide were reported across the country last year, 7.2 per cent higher than last year’s figure, the NCRB report said that more than 37,000 daily wage earners and 18,803 ‘self-employed persons’ died by suicide last year.

“Out of 1,18, 979 male suicides, maximum suicides were committed by daily wage earners (37,751) followed by self-employed persons (18,803) and unemployed persons (11,724). A total of 45,025 females committed suicide during 2021 in the country,” reads the report, titled ‘Accidental deaths and suicides in India’.

In 2020 as well, as per the data, daily wage earners accounted for the highest share of people who died by suicide, with 37,666 such cases recorded, which came to 24.6 per cent of the total figure.

According to the NCRB report, which categorized suicides and accidental deaths into nine professional groups, the highest increase of 16.73 per cent was recorded among ‘self-employed persons’.

The report noted that the number of such victims in this group increased to 20,231 in 2021 from 17,332 in 2020.

The report highlighted that students registered a much bigger increase in such figures compared to salaried persons in 2020.

It also noted that individuals who fell in the lowest income group (people earning less than Rs 1 lakh per annum) registered the biggest increase in deaths by suicide last year.

Among all states and Union Territories, Maharashtra recorded 13.5 percent of all such deaths followed by Tamil Nadu (11.5 percent) and Madhya Pradesh (9.1 per cent).

The report said that accidental deaths due to forces of nature – such as earthquakes, floods, or heat – decreased from 7,405 in 2020 to 7,126 in 2021.