An analysis of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, between 2013 and the latest available report of 2022, shows that India lost a total of 1.03 lakh young minds due to suicide. This included 55,842 men or boys and 48,116 women or girls.
Among females, students were the category with second-highest suicides after housewives. Also, while the gap between male and female is wider in overall suicides, among students, it is much less.
Across India, 14.22 lakh suicides were reported between 2013 and 2022 and women accounted for 4.33 lakh cases — around 30 per cent. In the student category, females account for over 46 per cent suicide deaths.
In 2022, a total of 48,172 females died by suicides in India and the biggest share was of housewives (25,309), followed by students (6,113) and daily wage earners (3,752).
But in the case of men, the situation is different. In 2022, 1.22 lakh males died by suicides and daily wage earners (41,433) were the biggest contributor, followed by self-employed persons (18,357) and professionals/salaried persons (14,395). A total of 6,930 male students died by suicide.
In 2013, 8,423 students died by suicide across India, including 4,634 men and 3,789 women. In 2022, the total student suicides increased by around 55 per cent to 13,044. In case of females, the jump was higher — 61 per cent to 6,113 — while there was 50 per cent jump in male student suicides to 6,930 in 2022. As against 23 student suicides almost per day on average in 2013, the daily average cases have gone up to around 36 deaths per day in 2022.
Since 2018, the number of student deaths by suicide have been more than 10,000 each year. A total of 38,659 students have died by suicide between 2020 and 2022 — almost 35 per day.
The analysis of data for 2022 also revealed that female student suicides exceed males in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh while in the rest of the states, the male student suicides outnumbered females.
Maharashtra on top since 2013
Maharashtra has been the state with the highest number of student suicides. The state has reported more than 1,000 cases since 2013. Until 2019, it was the sole state that reported more than 1,000 student suicides annually but, in 2020, it was joined by Madhya Pradesh (1,158) and Odisha (1,469).
In 2021, Odisha reported significant drop in student suicides at 834 but that year Tamil Nadu (1,246) registered significant jump in these cases.
In 2022, while Maharashtra continued to be on the top with 1,764 deaths, Tamil Nadu was second with 1,416 cases and Madhya Pradesh at third with 1,340 suicides. Uttar Pradesh also joined the 1,000-plus deaths list with 1,060 cases registered in 2022.
Rajasthan was much below in the list with 571 suicides in 2022. Also, Lakshadweep was the only place in India that did not register any student suicide in 2022.
The analysis also shows that over the years, West Bengal has seen significant improvement in numbers from 788 cases in 2013 to 354 in 2022 — more than half. Though not as significant, Andhra Pradesh also saw a decline from 719 in 2013 to 575 in 2022.
On the other hand, Jharkhand reported an unexceptionally high jump in student suicide cases — from 150 in 2013 to 138 in 2018 and 360 in 2018 to 824 cases in 2022. In Madhya Pradesh also, the cases have almost doubled between 2013 and 2022 — from 667 to 1,340.
In 2022, Kota reported 15 student suicides and the number increased to around 30 in 2023. This year, the figure has already reached close to 20.
Two suicide cases were reported in Kota this week alone. A Class 10 student allegedly died by suicide over being expelled from school, while a National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) aspirant from Uttar Pradesh took their life in Kota.
If you or someone you know needs help, call any of these helplines: Aasra (Mumbai) 022-27546669, Sneha (Chennai) 044-24640050, Sumaitri (Delhi) 011-23389090, Cooj (Goa) 0832- 2252525, Jeevan (Jamshedpur) 065-76453841, Pratheeksha (Kochi) 048-42448830, Maithri (Kochi) 0484-2540530, Roshni (Hyderabad) 040-66202000, Lifeline 033-64643267 (Kolkata)
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