BHOPAL: One in sixteen Indians lives in Madhya Pradesh. However, one among 10 people who died in accidents was from the state.
More than 40,000 people met with untimely deaths due to accidents in 2019, according National Crime Record Bureau. Madhya Pradesh accounted for more than 10 per cent of 4.13 lakh accidental deaths in the country. Only Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh recorded a higher percentage.
Maharashtra with a population share of 9.2 per cent reported highest number of accidental deaths (70,329), contributing nearly one-sixth (16.7 per cent) of total accidental deaths reported in the country. Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state accounted for 9.6 per cent of total accidental deaths in the country. With 42,431 deaths, Madhya Pradesh accounted for 10.1 per cent of the total, followed by Rajasthan (6.8 per cent).
At 51.4, the rate of accidental deaths (number of deaths per one lakh population) of Madhya Pradesh was higher than national average of 31.5. Chhattisgarh (68.6), Maharashtra (57.4) and Haryana (54.3) had a higher rate. Accidental deaths have been grouped into two broad categories by NCRB - deaths due to forces of nature and deaths due to other causes.
Under causes attributable to nature, the deaths due to avalanche, exposure to cold, earthquake, epidemic, flood, sun stroke and lightning increased in 2019 compared to 2018 whereas the deaths due to cyclone, tornado, landslide, torrential rain and forest fire decreased in 2019 compared to previous year.
The deaths due to drowning, electrocution, falls, traffic accidents, stampede, death during pregnancy increased whereas deaths due to air crash, collapse of structure, explosion, machine accidents, drug overdose etc decreased in 2019 compared to previous year.
Of the 42,431 accidental deaths in Madhya Pradesh, 627 were due to natural causes. The remaining 41,804 deaths were due to other causes. Only Maharashtra recorded a higher number of such deaths at 69,756.
