Suicides due to unemployment went up by 24% from 2016 to 2019: NCRB data

Suicide cases registered due to unemployment have increased by 24 per cent from 2016 to 2019, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. The NCRB records state that 2,851 people died by suicide due to unemployment in the country in 2019 . The corresponding figure for 2016 was 2,298.

Karnataka registered the most number of suicides due to unemployment (553) in 2019, followed by Maharashtra (452) and Tamil Nadu (251).

Suicide cases registered due to unemployment increased by 24% in 4 years:

2016 : 2,298

2017 : 2,404

2018 : 2,741

2019 : 2,851@IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/82AyCIttDZ

— Harikishan Sharma (@harikishan1) August 2, 2021

The figures in these NCRB records pertain to data before Covid-19 hit the country and led to further job losses in the last two years.

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) chief executive Mahesh Vyas has said that over 10 million Indians have lost their jobs because of the second wave of Covid-19, and around 97 per cent of households’ incomes have declined since the beginning of the pandemic.

NCRB data, which was recently presented in Parliament, have also stated that over 24,000 children in the age bracket of 14-18 years died by suicide from 2017-19, with failure in examination being the reason in over 4,000 such cases, according to government data.

According to the data, 24,568 children, including 13,325 girls, aged 14-18 years, died by suicide from 2017 to 2019.