New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS): A total of 1,39,123 suicides were reported in the country in 2019, showing an increase of 3.4 per cent in comparison to 2018, and the rate of suicide has increased by 0.2 per cent during 2019 over 2018, NCRB data revealed.

According to NCRB, majority of the suicides were reported in Maharashtra (18,916), followed by Tamil Nadu (13,493), West Bengal (12,665), Madhya Pradesh (12,457) and Karnataka (11,288) accounting for 13.6 per cent, 9.7 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 9.0 per cent and 8.1 per cent of total suicides, respectively.

These five states together accounted for 49.5 per cent of the total suicides reported in the country. The remaining 50.5 per cent suicides were reported from the remaining 24 states and seven UTs.

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state with 16.9 per cent of the country's population, has reported comparatively lower percentage share of suicidal deaths, accounting for 3.9 per cent of the total suicides reported in the country.

Delhi, which is the most-populous UT, has reported the highest number of suicides (2,526) among UTs, followed by Puducherry (493). The remaining UTs together accounted for 2.2 per cent of the total suicides in the country.

A total of 22,390 suicides were reported from the 53 mega cities of the country in 2019.

The states and UTs which have reported significant percentage increase in suicides in 2019 over 2018 were Bihar (44.7 per cent), Punjab (37.5 per cent), Daman & Diu (31.4 per cent), Jharkhand (25.0 per cent), Uttarakhand (22.6 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (21.5 per cent), while the highest percentage decrease was reported in Lakshadweep (100 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (21.1 per cent) Chandigarh (18.1 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (15.2 per cent) and Jammu & Kashmir (13.9 per cent).

A deeper study into the causes of suicides revealed that family problems and illness were the major causes of suicide, which accounted for 32.4 per cent and 17.1 per cent of total suicides, respectively, in 2019.

Drug addiction (5.6 per cent), marriage related issues (5.5 per cent), love affairs (4.5 per cent), bankruptcy or indebtedness (4.2 per cent), failure in examination and unemployment (2 per cent each), professional/career problem (1.2 per cent) and property dispute (1.1 per cent) were other causes of suicide.

Talking about the professional status of the suicide victims, it was revealed by the NCRB that housewives accounted for 51.5 per cent of the total female victims (21,359 out of 41,493) and constituted nearly 15.4 per cent of total victims who committed suicide (21,359 out of 1,39,123) during 2019.

Government servants accounted for 1.2 per cent (1,684) as compared to 6.3 per cent (8,730) from private sector enterprises out of 1,39,123 of total victims.

Self-employed category accounted for 11.6 per cent of total suicide victims (16,098 out of 1,39,123).

A total of 10,281 persons involved in the farming sector (consisting of 5,957 farmers/cultivators and 4,324 agricultural labourers) have committed suicide in 2019, accounting for 7.4 per cent of total suicides (1,39,123) in the country. Out of 5,957 farmers' suicides, a total of 5,563 were male and 394 were female.

Out of 4,324 suicides committed by agricultural labourers during 2019, 3,749 were male and 575 were female.