Unhappy Marriages, Lack Of Agency: Why Suicide Rates Are High Among Indian
Housewives

   According to NCRB data spanning several years, housewives make up more
   than half of all female suicide victims in India.
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   housewife suicide rate highest in india

   The NCRB data for 2021 was released on 30 August 2022 and once again,
   housewives accounted for the majority of the female victims in India.
   They also constitute nearly 14.1% of total victims who died by suicides
   (23,179 out of 1,64,033).

   A total of 45,026 women died by suicide in 2021 in the country and out
   of them housewives accounted for the majority of those deaths (23,178).
   51.5% of the total female victims were housewives.

   Over the years, the data on housewives (higher than 50% suicide cases)
   has remained constant. The NCRB data for the four years leading up to
   2021 show that,
     * In 2020, housewives accounted for 50.3% of the total female
       victims.
     * In 2019, housewives accounted for 51.5% of the total female
       victims.
     * In 2018, housewives accounted for 54.1% of the total female
       victims.
     * In 2017, housewives accounted for 51.3% of the total female victims

Why Are Suicide Cases On The Rise Among Housewives?

   housewife suicide cases

   To learn the cause of the consistently high cases of suicide among
   housewives, we spoke with Dr. Ruhi Satija, a consultant psychiatrist
   and counselling therapist at cloud nine hospitals.

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   homemakers, which could be contributing factors.

Being A Housewife Is A Hard Job

   Becoming a housewife is one of the toughest jobs. It requires one to be
   constantly working. However, a lot of people disrespect this work.

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   do so. Due to this and the fact that discussing mental health is still
   so taboo in our society, this is one of the leading reasons behind the
   high suicide rate among housewives.

   “This has an adverse effect on both their physical and mental
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Unhappy marriages

   Another big reason for such a high number of housewife suicide cases is
   that they get stuck in unhappy marriages. In a conversation with BBC,
   Dr Vikram Patel, a leading Goa-based psychiatrist and professor at the
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   Why Some Women Don't End Their Bad Marriage

   Dr. Satija points out four reasons as to why many housewives don't
   leave an unhappy marriage:

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   involves more than just looking for a better place to live or financial
   security; it also involves finding out what life is beyond this family
   and who this person is if they are not the housewife. So divorce is a
   complex issue on a personal level.

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   conditions found in people, who have had a parent who died by suicide.

Places With The Most Housewife Suicide Cases

   According to data from the NCRB, the majority of suicides by housewives
   were reported in Tamil Nadu (3,221 out of 23,179 suicides), followed by
   Madhya Pradesh (3,055 out of 23,179 suicides), and Maharashtra (2,861
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