Noting that suicide rates in India are grossly miscalculated, British Medical Journal The Lancet has said that India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) underestimates suicide in men by at least 25 per cent and in women by at least 36 per cent.
As reported by this newspaper, in its three series paper published on Friday in The Lancet, the renowned journal had revealed that suicide is the second leading cause of death in India.
According to The Lancet “Treating suicide as a criminal offence, as is done in India and many Islamic countries, can result in the frequent misclassification of suicide deaths and, thus, undermine prevention efforts,” said The Lancet.
The rural suicide rates in both India have been seen to be more than double that the urban rates. The picture Lancet says is quite different from the picture in high-income countries, where differences in urban and rural suicide rates are small and vary by location.
Young women in rural areas in both India and China are at “especially high risk of dying by suicide,” added The Lancet.
The most common method of suicide globally has been found to be self-poisoning with pesticides, accounting for about a third of all suicides.
The Lacnet also reported that suicide was higher in India’s richer states and that divorce, separation, and widowhood in women were protective factors for suicide.