Madhya Pradesh recorded 835 farm suicides in 2024, a 7.46 percent rise from the previous year. The state ranked third nationally, behind Maharashtra and Karnataka, in figures the National Crime Records Bureau published on May 7, 2026.
The increase came even as India’s national total edged downward for the second consecutive year. Across the country, 10,546 farmers and agricultural labourers died by suicide in 2024, 2.2 percent fewer than the 10,786 deaths recorded in 2023.
The numbers are moving in the right direction. The pace is not.
National Numbers
India’s farm-sector suicide count peaked at 11,290 in 2022 and has declined since. The 10,546 deaths in 2024 represented 6.2 percent of the country’s total 1,70,746 suicides. Nearly 28 people in the farm sector died by suicide every day — roughly one every hour.
Agriculture employs roughly 26 crore people, according to the 2011 Census. Nearly 14 crore are agricultural labourers — daily wage workers with no land, no insurance, and nothing to fall back on when a season fails.
The NCRB records only the profession of those who died, not the reasons for their deaths.
Of the 10,546 farm-sector deaths, 5,913, nearly 56 percent, were agricultural labourers. The remaining 4,633 were cultivators.
In 2020, labourers made up 47.75 percent of farm-sector suicides. Their share has risen every year since 2021. Research on rural households shows that wage income has grown as a share of total agricultural earnings while income from crop production has fallen. More people now depend entirely on daily wages, and have no buffer when that work disappears.
Among the 4,633 cultivators who died, 4,481 were male and 152 were female. Among the 5,913 agricultural labourers, 5,352 were male and 561 were female.
The pattern held nationally. Men accounted for the large majority of suicide deaths across all age groups in 2024. The single exception was the under-18 bracket, where 6,032 females died against 5,151 males. Among adults aged 30 to 45, when debt and family pressure tend to peak — 43,351 men died by suicide compared to 11,564 women.
Where the Deaths Were Highest
Maharashtra recorded 3,824 farm-sector suicides — 36.26 percent of the national total. In 2024, extreme weather damaged at least 20,37,651 hectares of cropped land in the state, nearly half of the 40,72,523 hectares affected across the entire country, according to India’s weather disaster atlas. The NCRB does not link weather damage to suicides, but the geographic overlap is consistent with prior years.
Karnataka ranked second with 2,971 deaths and recorded the sharpest rise among major states, 22.61 percent above its 2023 figure. Andhra Pradesh recorded 780 deaths but reported a 15.67 percent decline. Tamil Nadu followed with 503. Chhattisgarh reported 486.
The NCRB noted that the highest-burden states, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, are also where farmers grow cash crops such as cotton and sugarcane, which carry greater market risk and leave growers exposed to price swings beyond their control.
Among Union Territories, Puducherry recorded no farm-sector suicides between 2019 and 2022. It reported 10 in 2023. In 2024, the number rose to 33, a 230 percent increase in a single year. All 33 victims were agricultural labourers.
Fifteen States Reported Zero Deaths
The NCRB listed 15 states and Union Territories, including Telangana, West Bengal, and Delhi, as reporting zero farm-sector suicides in 2024. Researchers have previously questioned whether those zeroes reflect ground conditions or gaps in how states collect and report data.
India’s overall suicide rate fell marginally, from 12.3 per 1,00,000 population in 2023 to 12.2 in 2024. It remains well above the 10.4 recorded in 2019.
If you or someone you know is in distress, contact iCall at 9152987821 or Vandrevala Foundation’s 24-hour helpline at 1860-2662-345.
Support Us To Sustain Independent Environmental Journalism In India.
Keep Reading
Highway Halt Puts Kashmir’s Fruit Economy at Risk
Railway line expansion plan put Kashmir’s apple orchards at risk
Warmer winters in Kashmir raise concerns over apple and crop yields
Stay Connected With Ground Report For Underreported Environmental Stories.
