Is Divorce Driving People to Commit Suicide?

Bangalore: Divorce, illegitimate pregnancy and professional/career problems seem to be pushing more people to commit suicide as per the NCRB report, 2011. At least 16 people committed suicide every hour and the total figure was noted to be 1.35 lakh as per the report.

It was noted that suicides due to divorce and "illegitimate pregnancy" witnessed a rise of 54 percent and 20 percent respectively in 2011. Number of suicides due Professional/Career Problem was noted to have increased by 20.1 percent. Whereas family problems accounted for almost one-fourth of suicides, illness was another major reason.

Statistics and trends compiled by the board revealed that social and economic causes led most men to commit suicide whereas emotional and personal causes mainly drove women to take the extreme step.

West Bengal reported the highest number of suicides (16,492) accounting for 12.2 percent of total suicides followed by Tamil Nadu (15,963), Maharashtra (15,947), Andhra Pradesh (15,077) and Karnataka (12,622) accounting for 11.8, 11.8, 11.1 and 9.3 percent respectively of the total suicides in the country. These 5 States together accounted for 56.2 percent of the total suicides reported in the country.

Among 53 mega cities with over 10 lakh population, Chennai was recorded to have 2,438 suicides while Bangalore (1,717), Delhi (1,385) and Mumbai (1,162) followed. The four cities reported almost 36.7 percent of the total suicides.

Uttar Pradesh, being the most populous state reported comparatively lower percentage of suicidal deaths, accounting for only 3.6 percent of the total suicides reported in the country.