Experts mainly attribute the lower figures provided by NCRB to under-reporting and the fact that NCRB draws its data from First Information Reports (FIRs).

NEW DELHI: Even as a recent study published in the The Lancet Public Health pegged the number of suicides in India in 2016 at 2.57 lakh, with women in India accounting for nearly 37% of suicides across the world, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data show far fewer suicides.

Sample this: The Lancet paper claims that of the nearly 2.57 lakh Indians who committed suicide in 2016, nearly 94,380 were women while the 2015 NCRB report showed 1.33 lakh suicides, of which 42,088 were women. As per the NCRB data, there were 91,528 suicides by males.

Experts mainly attribute the lower figures provided by NCRB to under-reporting and the fact that NCRB draws its data from First Information Reports (FIRs).

According to Rakhi Dandona, the principal author of the Lancet study, NCRB is dependent on data that is under-reported at different levels in the absence of a robust system to keep a track of vital registeration and cause of death. “This system exists in the urban sector but is largely absent in the rural areas.”

The data collected by the Lancet researchers is based on sample registration surveys and medically certified causes of death.

The purpose of the study, Dandona says, was to highlight the gender aspect of suicide figures, as the study reveals that 71.2% of suicide deaths among women in India were in the 15-39 age group. India accounted for 17.8% (130 crore) of the global population but recorded 36.6% (94,380) of the 2,57,624 suicides among women and 24.3% of global suicides among men. As per the findings of the study, married women account for the highest proportion of suicide deaths in India.

ET