15 commit suicide every hour, majority victims married

"It is observed that social and economic causes have led most of the males to commit suicide whereas emotional and personal causes have mainly driven females to end their lives," the report, released by Home Minister P Chidambaram, said. 41.1 per of suicide victims were self employed while only 7.5 per were un-employed.

More than one lakh persons (1,34,599) in the country lost their lives by committing suicide during the year 2010 and nearly 70.5 per cent of the suicide victims were married males while 67.0 per cent were married females, according to the report of the National Crime Record Bureau for 2010.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh accounted for 65.8 per cent of suicide victims in the age group 60 years and above. Suicides because of `family problems` (23.7 per cent) and `illness` (21.0 per cent) combined accounted for 44.7 per cent of total suicides, said the report. The percentage of suicides due to `property dispute` and `death of dear person` showed a relatively higher increase of 48.0 per cent and 28.9 per cent respectively.

The overall male:female ratio of suicide victims for the year 2009 was 65:35. However, the proportion of boys:girls suicide victims (upto 14 years of age) was 52:48. 26.3 per cent of the suicide victims were primary educated and 22.7 per cent were middle educated while 19.8 per cent of victims of suicide were illiterate, the statistics showed.

Government servants were 1.4 per cent of the total suicide victims. West Bengal (11.9 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (11.8 per cent), Tamil Nadu (12.3 per cent), Maharashtra (11.8 per cent) and Karnataka (9.4 per cent) contributed 57.2 per cent of total suicide victims.

West Bengal has reported the highest number of suicide victims (accounting for 11.9 per cent)

in 2008 and 2009 and second highest in 2010 (accounting for 11.9 per cent). Southern states Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have accounted for 51.7 per cent of total suicides reported in the country.

Sikkim and Puducherry had reported 45.9 and 45.5 respectively suicidal deaths per one lakh of

population as against the national average of 11.4. Besides, more than 55.9 per cent children suicide victims belonged to five states Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu--out of 3,130 suicide victims.

Sikkim reported the highest rate of suicide (45.9) followed by Puducherry (45.5), Andaman and Nicober Islands (36.1), Kerala (24.6) and Chhattisgarh (26.6). Tamil Nadu has reported significant increase in suicides (16,561) in 2010 over 2009 (14,424) (an increase of 14.8 per cent) followed by Maharashtra (from 14,300 in 2009 to 15,916 in 2010), the report said.

The highest number of mass/family suicides cases were reported from Bihar (23) followed by Kerala (22) and Madhya Pradesh (21) and Andhra Pradesh (20), out of 109 cases. 33.1 per cent of the suicide victims consumed poison, 31.4 per cent died by hanging, 8.8 per cent by fire/self-immolation and 6.2 per cent by drowning.

The trend of suicide by hanging has been mixed during last three years (32.2 per cent in 2008, 31.5 per cent in 2009 and 31.4 per cent in 2010) while suicide by poisoning has shown decreasing trend in 2007 and 2008 (34.8 per cent in 2008, 33.6 per cent in 2009 and 33.1 per cent in 2010).

Bengaluru (1,778), Chennai (1,325), Delhi (1,242) and Mumbai (1,192) ? the four cities together have reported almost 40.5 per cent of the total suicides reported from 35 mega cities. Among 25 cities, Jabalpur has reported the highest rate of 41.5 and Kolkata reported the lowest rate at 2.1.