India reported 1,71,418 suicides in 2023, marking a slight increase of 0.3 per cent compared to 2022, according to the reports released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Maharashtra reported the highest number of suicides at 22,687, followed by Tamil Nadu (19,483), Madhya Pradesh (15,662), Karnataka (13,330) and West Bengal (12,819), accounting for 13.2 per cent, 11.4 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 7.8 per cent and 7.5 per cent of total cases, respectively.
These five states together contributed 49 per cent of the nation’s total suicides. The remaining 51 per cent were reported across the other 23 states and eight Union territories. Uttar Pradesh, despite having 17 per cent of India’s population, accounted for only 5.3 per cent of the total suicides.
Major reasons for suicide:
Family problems (31.9 per cent) and illness (19 per cent) were the primary reasons for suicides. Other contributing factors included drug abuse/alcoholic addiction (7 per cent), marriage-related issues (5.3 per cent), love affairs (4.7 per cent), bankruptcy or indebtedness (3.8 per cent), unemployment (1.8 per cent), failure in examinations (1.4 per cent), death of a ‘dear person’ (1.3 per cent), professional/career problems (1.1 per cent) and property disputes (1 per cent).
Housewives represented 51.6 per cent of female victims (24,048 out of 46,648) and nearly 14 per cent of all suicides. Government servants accounted for 1.1 per cent (1,915), private sector employees 7.2 per cent (12,275), and public sector undertaking employees 1.4 per cent (2,327). Female victims were more prevalent in marriage-related issues, particularly dowry disputes, and infertility/impotency cases.
Individuals aged 18–30 and 30–45 were the most vulnerable, responsible for 32.8 per cent and 32.5 per cent of suicides, respectively. Among children below 18 years, the main causes included family problems (2,568), love affairs (1,724) and examination failure (1,303). Students and unemployed victims accounted for 8.1 per cent (13,892) of the total.
