Daily wage earners 31% of all suicide deaths in 2024, highest in a decade: NCRB

NEW DELHI: Daily wage earners accounted for 31% of all suicide deaths in 2024, the highest share in a decade (2015–2024), according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. A total of 52,910 daily wage earners died by suicide during the year, marking a sharp rise from the previous peak of 26.4% recorded in 2022.

Casual labourers, a category that largely includes daily wage earners, constituted nearly one-fifth of and the biggest share of India’s total workforce. The total number of suicide deaths in the country rose to 1.7 lakh in 2024, compared with 1.34 lakh in 2015.

A comparative analysis of suicide deaths since 2015 shows that daily wage earners, housewives and the self-employed continue to account for the three largest categories under “suicide victims by profession”. However, the share of suicides among housewives and the self-employed has declined over the past decade.

Similarly, the share of suicide deaths among persons engaged in the farming sector fell from 8.7% in 2016 to 6.2% in 2024. The farming category was introduced in the NCRB’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report in 2016.

According to the 2024 NCRB report, Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of suicides among daily wage earners at 10,556 — nearly one-fifth of all such deaths in the country — followed by Maharashtra (6,811), Telangana (5,745), Madhya Pradesh (5,299) and Chhattisgarh (3,413). Among Union Territories, Delhi reported the highest number of such deaths at 343.

The report also noted that 62.9% of suicide victims in 2024 — around 1.1 lakh persons — had an annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh. Among the causes of suicide, “family problems” remained the leading reason, accounting for 35% of all deaths, followed by “illness” at 17.9%.

The major means adopted for deaths by suicide was hanging (62.3%), consuming poison (24.5%), drowning (4.4%) and by coming under running vehicles or trains (2.5%).