Suicides by daily-wage earners on the rise; 23% in 2019
Almost a quarter of all suicides recorded in 2019 involved daily-wage earners, the recently released report published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) showed. Not only did daily-wage earners constitute the highest share in terms of suicides by profession, but the figure has also been on a steady rise and has doubled in 2019 compared to six years before. Here are more details.
23.4% of all suicides in 2019 by daily-wage earners
Under 'Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India', the NCRB report mentioned that out of the total 1,39,123 suicides in 2019, 32,563 (or 23.4%) were by daily-wage earners. This figure does not include agricultural laborers. At 5,186, Tamil Nadu saw the highest number of suicides by daily-wage earners, followed by Maharashtra (4,128), Madhya Pradesh (3,964), Telangana (2,858), and Kerala (2,809).
Daily-wager suicides doubled from 2014 to 2019
The NCRB started categorizing data on suicides by daily-wagers under 'Accidental Deaths & Suicides' only in 2014. That year, daily-wage earners constituted 12% of all suicide deaths. However, the figure has been rising steadily; 17.8% in 2015, 19.2% in 2016, 22.1% in 2017, and 22.4% in 2018. The total number of daily-wager suicides has also doubled from 15,735 in 2014 to 32,563 in 2019.
Housewives made up second-largest share of suicides in 2019
The NCRB's annual report categorizes suicides into nine categories based on the profession of the victim. In 2019, 'housewives' made up the second-largest share of suicides at 21,359 suicide deaths or 15.4%. Others include self-employed persons (11.6%), unemployed persons (10.1%), professionals/salaried persons (9.1%), persons engaged in the farming sector (7.4%), students (7.4%), retired persons (0.9%), and others (14.7%).
Unemployed suicides hits record share of total
Notably, 2019 also marked the first year that the share of suicides by unemployed persons hit double digits since 1995 when the NCRB started recording the data, The Indian Express reported. 2019 saw 14,019 suicides by unemployed persons, up from 12,936 in 2018. The figure has surpassed the previous high of 9.8% recorded in 1997. Unemployed persons constituted the lowest share of suicides—6.9%—in 2007.
