Ahmedabad: At 8,984 cases of suicides, Gujarat recorded on average one instance per hour in 2024, indicated the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report for 2024 by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Compared to 8,948 suicide cases in 2023, the rise in the number is 0.4% year-on-year, according to the report.Four major cities of Gujarat accounted for 31.6% of the total suicides. Surat recorded the highest at 1,079 cases, followed by Ahmedabad (939), Rajkot (546), and Vadodara (280).Against the state’s overall suicide rate of 12.4 (cases per 1 lakh population), Rajkot recorded 39.3, followed by 23.5 in Surat. In fact, Rajkot’s suicide rate was the second highest among 53 cities considered for the NCRB analysis after Kollam’s 51.5.Seven of every 10 suicide cases had men as victims, as the profiles also indicated socio-economic reasons. For instance, earning and suicide cases had an inverse relationship with the highest, 6,116, recorded among those who earned up to Rs 1 lakh per annum.Eight instances were recorded involving individuals who earned over Rs 10 lakh per annum. Victims identified as daily wagers accounted for 34.4% of the total cases, according to the report.A majority of the victims had education up to Class 12 at 7,972 (88.7%) whereas 363 were recorded among those with degrees of graduation or above, and nine had professional degrees.“The highlight of the analysis — as is the case with almost all the years — is that in 2,109 cases, the causes were not known,” said a city-based psychiatrist. “It accounted for 23.4% or every fifth case of suicide. Why someone ended his or her life remains a mystery for the family. It speaks a lot about the importance of mental health and the need for early intervention.”The city and state have suicide prevention helplines, Saath (079-26305544/0222) and Jeevan Aastha (18002333330), that work with the persons getting suicidal thoughts. Coordinators said that the idea is to hold the hand for that one moment where a person cannot see anything in front of him or her and assure them of a way out of the situation troubling them.
