Daily-wage earners, self-employed, farm labour died most by suicide in 2021: NCRB

New Delhi: Daily-wage earners followed by self-employed persons, unemployed persons and people involved in farming sector were the top categories of people who have killed themselves in 2021, a Covid-19 pandemic year.

According to a latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 1,64,033 people have taken their lives in 2021 across the country. "Out of total 1,18,979 male suicides, maximum suicides were committed by daily wage earners (37,751) followed by self-employed persons (18,803) and unemployed persons (11,724)," the report said.

A total of 45,026 females died by suicides during this period in the country.

A total of 10,881 persons involved in farming sector consisting of 5,318 farmers and cultivators and 5,563 agricultural labourers have killed themselves during 2021, accounting for 6.6% of total suicide victims in the country. Out of 5,318 farmer and cultivator suicides, a total of 5,107 were males and 211 were females.

Majority of victims engaged in farming sector were reported in Maharashtra (37.3%), Karnataka (19.9%), Andhra Pradesh (9.8%), Madhya Pradesh (6.2%) and Tamil Nadu (5.5%).

Out of 5,563 suicides by agricultural labourers during 2021, 5,121 were males and 442 were females.

Certain States and Union Territories namely, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides of farmers and cultivators as well as agriculture labourers.

Government servants accounted for 1.2% (1,898) as compared to 7.0% (11,431) from Private Sector Enterprises out of 1,64,033 of total victims.

Employees from Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) formed 1.5% (2,541), whereas students and unemployed victims accounted for 8.0% (13,089 victims) and 8.4% (13,714 victims) of total suicides respectively.

Self-employed category accounted for 12.3% of total suicide victims (20,231 out of 1,64,033).

A total of 64.2% (1,05,242) of suicide victims in 2021 had an annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh. 31.6% (51,812) of suicide victims belonged to annual income group of Rs 1 lakh to less than Rs 5 lakh.