NEW DELHI: The poorest but not the most uneducated have fallen victim to the highest number of suicides in India in 2018, according to the 2018 Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The recently released report shows that the maximum people who committed suicide in 2018 earned less than Rs 1 lakh per annum but had some educational qualification. According to the report, 66% of the total 1,34,516 suicides in 2018 were by people who had an annual income of Rs 1 lakh or less.
An analysis of economic background of the suicide victims shows 39,080 of them belonged to annual income group of Rs 1 lakh and above to less than Rs 5 lakh. Such victims accounted for 29.1% of total victims. An analysis of occupation wise break-up shows 13,149 people who were self-employed had the maximum number of victims (9.8%) followed by 12,936 people who were unemployed (9.6%). Over 10,000 students accounted for 7.6% of the total victims.
Government servants accounted for 1.3% (1,707 out of 1,34,516) of the total suicide victims as compared to 6.1% (8,246 out of 1,34,516) of total victims from private sector Enterprises. Employees from Public Sector Undertakings formed 1.5% (2,022 out of 1,34,516) of the total victims A break-up by educational status and occupation shows that those who studied up to matric level and daily wagers had the biggest shares in suicides in their respective categories. There has been an overall increase in suicides in 2018 (1,34,516 suicides) as compared to 2017 (1,29,887 suicides).