suicide
Daily wage earners accounted for 26% of suicide victims, the largest group in the suicide data.
suicide rates are generally higher among males compared to females in India. Males have higher suicide rates in middle and older ages while the age group of 15–29 years has the highest suicide rate among females.
On average, higher male and female suicide rates are observed in states with: higher levels of development, higher levels of agricultural employment, higher levels of literacy, and higher proportions of people identifying with Hinduism.
Higher male suicide rates are also observed in states with higher levels of unemployment
the process of modernization and rapid social change with an increasing gap between expectations and reality might be contributing towards higher suicide risk in more developed parts of India.
Also, ancient sanctions towards religious suicide are possibly still influencing modern Hindu suicides.
Regarding high female suicide rates among the younger age-group, the ongoing clash between traditional values and modern ways of living concerning issues such as age of marriage, and the value of individual decision making, along with patriarchal norms and sexual violence against women might be contributing factors.
Regarding high male suicide rates among middle age groups, because males play the traditional role of—"breadwinners"—in India and failure to provide for the family during the middle age, for example, due to loss of employment, might result in higher suicide rates
hanging is the primary method of suicide in India and has shown increasing trends among both males and females between 2001-2021.
Prevention
ban on lethal pesticides must be prioritised to lower insecticide poisoning suicide rates. Also, responsible reporting of suicide by hanging in the media and limiting fictional portrayals of this method may be useful areas for prevention.
States with the largest increase in suicide in 2020 included Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.
out of the total 139,000 total suicides in India, 93,061 were young adults. This indicates that they are the most vulnerable age groups.
In the year 2021, Delhi City(2,760) recorded the highest number of deaths by suicide among the four metropolitan cities, followed by Chennai (2,699), Bengaluru (2,292) and Mumbai (1,436). These four cities together reported almost 35.5% of the total suicides reported from the 53 mega cities
36.6% of the world's total number of female suicides take place in India.
Domestic violence was found to be a major risk factor for suicide
the proportion of female victims were more in "marriage-related issues" (specifically in "dowry-related issues")
A large proportion of suicides occur in relation to psychiatric illnesses such as depression, substance use and psychosis.
Farmer's suicide in India
in 2019, 10,281 people involved in the farming sector died by suicide. 5,957 were farmers/cultivators and 4,324 were agricultural labourers. Out of the 5,957 farmers/cultivators suicides, a total of 5,563 were male
At least one student commits suicide every hour in India. The year 2019 recorded the highest number of deaths by suicide (10,335) in the last 25 years. From 1995 to 2019, India lost more than 170,000 students to suicide. Despite being one of the most advanced states in India, Maharashtra had the highest number of student suicides. In 2019, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh accounted for 44% of the total student suicides.
Many suicides are attributed to the intense pressure and harsh regimen of students in cram schools (or coaching institutes). In the five years from 2011 to 2016, 57 students in Kota, dubbed the "coaching capital" of the country, died by suicide.[45] Coaching institutes offer coaching to high school students and high school graduates for various hyper-competitive college entrance exams, most commonly the JEE or NEET.In 2023 ,26 cases of suicides were reported in Kota, Rajasthan which was one of the highest ever in history.
Deaths due to suicide in Tamil Nadu have doubled in the last two decades, says a report accumulated till 2014 by Sneha, a non-governmental organization that works towards minimizing such deaths.