It may be a testimony to the bleak economic situation and the slump in various industries that an average of 36 self-employed people ended their lives every day as against a lesser number of 35 unemployed people.
While the government has been offering several categories of loans for the self-employed, the downturn in commercial activity in general, indebtedness and the stress of running a business may be taking a toll on the self-employed. Self-employed category accounted for 9.8 per cent of total suicide victims (13,149 out of 1,34,516).
Suicides by the self-employed and the unemployed in 2018, with the two categories together accounted for 26,085 deaths during the year, according to government data.
The self employed figure of suicides at 13,149 is more than the suicides by the unemployed at 12,936.
Both the categories combined outnumbered the suicide figures of those working in the farming sector at 10,349 in 2018, according to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
"Each suicide is a personal tragedy that prematurely takes the life of an individual and has a continuing ripple effect, dramatically affecting the lives of families, friends and communities. Every year, more than 1 lakh people commit suicide in our country. There are various causes of suicides like professional/career problems, sense of isolation, abuse, violence, family problems, mental disorders, addiction to alcohol, financial loss, chronic pain etc," says the NCRB adding it collects data on suicides from police recorded suicide cases.
A total of 1.34 lakh suicides were reported in the country during 2018, showing an increase of 3.6 per cent in comparison to 2017. The rate of suicides, which means deaths per one lakh population, also increased by 0.3 per cent during 2018 over 2017, the NCRB stated.
In a shocking revelation, one unemployed person committed suicide every hour during 2018. Of the total suicides, 92,114 male and 42,391 female, were reported in the country, NCRB's data on "Suicide in India-2018" says.
The latest data, issued by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under Ministry of Home Affairs, reveals that a total of 12,936 unemployed persons committed suicide in 2018, which accounted for the 9.6 per cent of the total suicides, were of aged below 18 years to above 60 years.
Those below 18 years include 31 males and nine females while those between 18 and 30 years comprise 1,240 male and 180 female. A total of 868 male and 95 female were aged between 30 and 45 years. A number of 237 males and 21 females were aged between 45 and 60 years while 2,431 males and 310 females were above 60 years.
Of the total suicides by unemployed persons, males are 10,687 while the females are 2,249.
Majority of 12.3 per cent suicides committed by unemployed persons were in Kerala (1,585 out of 12,936 suicides), 12.2 per cent in Tamil Nadu (1,579 suicides), 9.7 per cent in Maharashtra (1,260 suicides), 8.5 per cent in Karnataka (1,094 suicides) and 7 per cent in Uttar Pradesh (902 suicides).
( With inputs from IANS )