An increase in mental health issues, illnesses were all a fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of these issues is visible in the numbers as well. Suicides reported in India increased by over 10% in 2020 and crossed 1.5 lakh. More than 50% of these are attributed to Family Problems & Illnesses. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently released the annual ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides India’ (ADSI) report for the calendar year 2020. The report is the official source of comprehensive data related to accidents and suicides in the country. The report helps in understanding the causative factors of accidents and suicides that can be used for policy formulation among other things. This story focuses on the trend in suicides in the past decade along with the analysis of causes. Suicides increased by about 10% in 2020 & Men constitute 71% of the victims The ADSI-2020 revealed that between January and December 2020, a total of 1,53,052 suicides were reported in India which translates to an average of 418 suicides per day or about an average of 17 suicides every hour. This is the first time that the number of suicides in the country crossed the 1.5 lakh mark. Compared to the year 2019, the number of suicides increased by 10% in 2020, and ever since NCRB began publishing the ADSI reports in 1967, the number of suicides reported in 2020 is the greatest. The number of suicides reported in 2020 is about 4 times the number reported in 1967 (38,829). Between 2011 & 2019, the number of suicides hovered between 1.3 lakh and 1.4 lakh a year. While there was a decrease in the number of suicides between 2011 and 2017, the number started increasing from 2018 and reached 1.53 lakh in 2020. The rate of suicides, normalized with the population also shows a similar trend. (Rate of suicides is calculated using projected population for the non-census years whereas, for the census year 2011, the population in the Census 2011 report was used.) The rate of suicides dropped from 11.2 per lakh in 2011 and 2012 to 9.9 in 2017 and has touched the highest rate of 11.3 per lakh in 2020. In line with the increase in the number of suicides between 2019 & 2020, the rate of suicides increased by 8.7% during this period. Also, in 2020, the number of male victims out of the reported suicides crossed 1 lakh for the first time. Men constituted almost 71% of the suicide victims reported in 2020. Over the years, the share of men in the number of reported suicides increased gradually- from over 58% in 1967 to 71% in 2020. Five states account for more than 50% of suicides reported in the country The greatest number of suicides in 2020 was reported in the state of Maharashtra where 19,909 suicides were reported, followed by Tamil Nadu with 16,883 suicides. Along with Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka, the five states together accounted for 50% of the suicides reported in the country in 2020. Except for Madhya Pradesh, the remaining four states have reported more than 10,000 suicides each year since 2011 and Madhya Pradesh has been doing so since 2015. The remaining close to 50% of suicides were reported from the rest of the 23 States and 8 UTs. Maharashtra has been reporting the most suicides followed by Tamil Nadu since 2013 While Tamil Nadu reported the most suicides in 2011 and 2012, followed by Maharashtra, its place was taken over by Maharashtra starting 2013. Since 2013, Maharashtra has been reporting the most suicides with Tamil Nadu reporting the second highest. The 10-year trend in both these states has been quite different. In the case of Maharashtra, the number of suicides has increased consistently from 15,947 in 2011 to 19,909 in 2020- an increase of 25%. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s numbers fell from 15,963 in 2011 to 13,493 in 2019- a drop by 15%. However, in 2020, Tamil Nadu witnessed a sudden 20% increase in the number of suicides with the number crossing 16,000. Multiple states reported a significant increase in the number of suicides in 2020 compared to 2019. Uttarakhand (82.8%), Mizoram (54.3%), Himachal Pradesh (46.7%), and Arunachal Pradesh (42.9%) which reported less than 1000 suicides each, along with Jharkhand (30.5%) and Assam (36.8%) have all reported a significant increase. MP, Gujarat, Punjab, and Delhi reported a continuous increase in suicides in the last ten years A total of 17 states and Delhi reported more than 2000 suicides each in 2020, accounting for 96% of all the suicides in the country. Except for Kerala, UP, and Haryana, the remaining states witnessed an increase in suicides in 2020 as compared to 2019. Along with Maharashtra, the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, and Delhi have also reported a continuous increase in suicides in the last ten years.