According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, Gujarat saw a 9.2 percent rise in the number of suicides in 2021 over the previous year. In 2020, the state had reported 8,050 deaths by suicide. The figure rose to 8,789 in 2021.
The concentration of suicides is more in urban areas. Surat reported the highest number of suicide deaths in the state. There were 1,059 deaths in the diamond city in 2021, which was 21.9 percent more than in 2020. Ahmedabad reported 991 deaths, which was 13.8 percent more than in 2020. Vadodara reported a 7.4 percent rise in the number of suicides in 2021 against 2020. Rajkot was the only major city where suicides actually declined marginally in 2021.
Ahmedabad reported 991 deaths by suicide in 2021, compared to 871 suicides in 2020 and 763 suicides in 2019. The number of attempted suicides in the city has also seen a rise over the previous year. The Sabarmati River that flows through the city has been the location for many of these cases. While the possibility of some of these cases being accidents is rife, most of those rescued claimed they had attempted to end their lives. The number of such incidents rose by 26 percent and deaths in the Sabarmati rose by 34 percent in 2021.
Retired Inspector Pravin Valera, who liaisons with the Jeevan Aastha Suicide Helpline, said the number of people who had called counsellors before attempting suicide had risen from 73 in 2020 to 111 in 2021—a rise of 52 percent. The major cause for attempting suicide was financial stress.
Of the 8,789 suicides reported in Gujarat in 2021, the highest number of 2,465 deaths was due to family problems, followed by 1,788 deaths due to illnesses. No known causes are listed for 1,926 deaths by suicide.
