Chennai, Bengaluru remain suicide capitals of country

Chennai and Bengaluru have once again retained the dubious distinction of being the suicide capitals of the country, even as the metro cities recorded a minor increase in incidents of people taking their lives.

While Chennai has reported a slight increase, suicides in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai have shown a drop.

According to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2015 published last week, 53 metro cities, which have a population of more than 10 lakh, reported 19,665 suicides in the country as against 19,597 in 2014.

“The number of suicides in 53 mega cities shows a mixed trend during 2012 to 2015. It shows an increasing trend from 2012 (19,120) to 2013 (21,313). However, a decline of 8.1% is seen in 2014 over 2013. A steep rise of 11.5% was observed in 2013 over 2012,” the report stated.

An analysis of the figures showed that Chennai had the highest incidents of 2,274 suicides in 2015 as against 2,214 in 2014, a 2.7% increase.

However, suicides in Bengaluru had a 2.7 decline — from 1,906 to 1,855 — while Delhi had 1,553, down from 1,847, which was a decrease of 15.9%. Mumbai, which is the fourth in the table, had 1,122 suicides, a decrease of 6.2%.

The IT capital Bengaluru (87) and financial capital Mumbai (86), where a number of people migrate for jobs, recorded the highest number of suicides due to unemployment.

Only Bhopal was ahead of these cities with 173 suicides due to joblessness. Meerut (86) and Pune (83) were other toppers, while Chennai had 41 and Delhi 19 such cases.

Major causes 

According to the report, family problems (other than marriage-related issues) were major reasons behind suicides in the cities, accounting for 34% (6,682), followed by illnesses at 17.2% (3,379). However, 1,019 victims have committed suicide in cities due to marriage-related issues, accounting for 5.2% of the total suicides in the cities.

While Chennai had the highest number (870) of suicides due to family problems, Bengaluru was a close second at 815. Those who committed suicide due to an illness was also high — Chennai (448) and Bengaluru (229).

In these four cities, 186 people committed suicide due to bankruptcy, while another 146 took their life due to unemployment and 21 due to poverty. Chennai had 154 suicides due to bankruptcy, while Bengaluru had 21, Mumbai (6) and Delhi (5).

Bengaluru also topped the list among the four cities in suicides over love affairs at 73, followed by Chennai (61), Delhi (39) and Mumbai (30).