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New Delhi: The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2024 report, released in May this year, documents 1,70,746 cases of deaths by suicide across the country, marginally decreasing by 0.4% from 2023’s total of 1,71,418 cases. However, these aggregate figures disguise a troubling reality wherein the number of students dying by suicide climbed to a record high of 14,488 in 2024.

Even as the national suicide rate edged down slightly from 12.3 per lakh population in 2023 to 12.2, student deaths by suicide marked a significant 4.3% rise from 2023 data. Students accounted for 8.5% of the total cases, making them the fifth-largest group among suicide victims by occupation.

Student deaths by suicide on the rise

Of the 14,488 recorded incidents, 7,669 (approximately 53%) individuals were male and 6,819 (47%) were female, a noticeably narrower gender gap than the overall national male to female ratio of 73.5:26.5, indicating broader patterns of concern leading to student deaths in India.

While overall death by suicide rates in 2024 rose by 11.6% the........

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