India witnesses a suicide every two hours

On an average, one person commits suicide every two hours in India.

According to the report Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2012, a total of 1.35 lakh people ended their lives for reasons ranging from family problems to poverty to illness to love failures.

The statistics for the year 2012, released recently by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), show that suicides have come down marginally in 2012, compared to the previous year. Family problems and illnesses were the main causes of suicide, accounting for 25.6 and 20.8 per cent of the incidents, respectively, in the past year. For the past few years, these have been the main causes of suicides.

The country witnessed 1,35,445 suicides last year, as against 2010’s 1,35,585. The year 2012 showed a decrease in number of suicides from the past decade. Tamil Nadu has reported the highest number of suicides — 16,927 — followed by Maharashtra (16,112), West Bengal (14,957), Andhra Pradesh (14,238) and Karnataka (12,753).
These five states together accounted for 55.3 per cent of the total suicides reported in the country. All five states have registered consistently higher number of suicidal deaths over the last few years.

Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, has reported a comparatively lower ratio of suicidal deaths, accounting for only 3.3 per cent of the total suicides reported in the country. Delhi has reported suicides (1,899). The statistics also showed that there were a total of 3,94,982 accidental deaths in the country, 4,098 more than such deaths reported in 2011. A total of 3,72,022 deaths were due to unnatural causes.

Road accident cases in the country have decreased by a marginal 0.02 per cent in 2012 (1,36,834), compared to 2011 (1,39,091). However the casualties due to road accidents in the country have increased by 1.6 per cent during 2012 as compared to 2011.