West Bengal and Maharashtra have retained the dubious distinction of having the highest number of suicides in the country, according to statistics available with National Crime Records Bureau.

The provisional data for the year 2006 revealed that the total number of suicides in the country has increased by 4,198 to touch 1,18,112 last year, but there was a decline in the cases of farmers taking their lives last year.

The statistics revealed that the number of suicides by farmers were 17,060 last year as against 17,131 in 2005.
West Bengal topped the list of suicides with 15,725 suicides, including 6,605 women, compared to 15,015 in 2005 and 13,424 the previous year.

Maharashtra, which topped the list of farmers' suicide with 4,453 compared to 3,926 in 2005, recorded 15,494 suicides as against 14,426 in 2005. These two states were followed by Andhra Pradesh (13,276) which registered a decline of 166 in the suicides, Tamil Nadu (12,381), Karnataka (12,212).

The national capital registered 1,492 suicide cases last year, which is an increase of 247 from 2005 figures. There were three cases of farmers committing suicide in the capital, down from seven in 2005.

The main reasons for people taking the extreme step were family problems, failure in love affairs, illness, examination blues and dowry harassment, an official said, adding majority of them took to consuming poison or hanging.

It was in Bengal where a maximum number of 6,605 women committed suicide last year followed by Maharashtra (4,984) and Tamil Nadu (4,872). The total number of women  who committed suicide was 42,410.

Out of the 75,702 men committed suicide last year, the maximum was recorded from Maharashtra (10,510) followed by Bengal (9,120) and Andhra Pradesh (8,863). Uttar Pradesh, the biggest state of the country, recorded a decline in the number of suicides, recording 3,099 such incidents during last year. It included 1,761 men and 1,338 women.

In 2005, Uttar Pradesh witnessed 3,449 suicides.  There was a substantial decline in the number of farmers' suicide in the state. Last year, 411 such cases were reported in Uttar Pradesh compared to 522 in 2005 while the
figures for 2004 were 496.

While Maharashtra topped the list of farmers' suicide with 4,453, Andhra Pradesh came second with 2,607, followed by Karnataka (1,720), Chattisgarh (1,483) and Madhya Pradesh (1,375). West Bengal (1,189) and Kerala [Images] (1,124) were on the sixth and seventh position.

Out of the 17,060 farmers' suicide, a whopping 14,664 were men while 2,396 were women. The corresponding figures for 2005 are 14,973 (men) and 2,158 (women).

The suicide figures for 2001 was 1,10,850 while it was 1,10,417 for the next year, followed by 1,10,851 in 2003 and 1,13,697 in 2004.