More married people ended lives than singles in 2014: Report

Indore, Aug 21: Three times as many married persons ended their lives in 2014 as those who were single with experts saying that the finding points to "serious changes" in family ties and a dip in "personal tolerance" levels as the nuclear family continues to gain prevalence in society.

According to a recent report by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), entitled 'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India', out of a total of 1,31,666 suicides reported in the country in 2014, about 65.9 per cent were by those who were married.

Unmarried persons accounted for 21.1 per cent of the suicides reported last year, the data said. Divorcees and those separated from their spouse made up about 1.4 per cent of the total suicide victims.

The proportion of widowed and widower victims was around 2.1 per cent, the NCRB report said.

"These statistics point towards the serious changes taking place among relationships in families," city-based psychologist and marriage counsellor, Dr Abhay Jain, told PTI.

"Joint families are fast getting replaced by nuclear families. That is leading to more conflicts in families and personal tolerance is constantly going down," he said.

It has been seen that couples living in nuclear families do not share with each other their professional and personal problems and, amidst the lack of communication, they struggle to tackle their issues alone, Jain said.

"That leads them towards depression and, in the end, they resort to taking the extreme step," he said.

"Marriages can stay successful for longer when the husband and wife give equal importance to each other's contribution and freely communicate and discuss their problems," Jain said.

PTI