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 riseOf 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 course of five years, hiking from 1,53,052 in 2020 to 1,70,746, student deaths by suicide increased at an even sharper rate of 15.7% from 12,526 cases reported in 2020, and 13,892 cases in 2023, to 14,488 in 2024. Correspondingly, the share of student deaths in the aggregate data on death by suicide also rose over the past few years, the proportion rising from 8.2% in 2020 to 8.5% in 2024.More than 1,15,850 students died by suicide between the years 2015 and 2024, a figure that only depicts cases that were reported across the country.Geographically, Maharashtra recorded the highest number of student deaths by suicide at 1,909 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 1,585, Madhya Pradesh (1,447) and Tamil Nadu (1,287). These four states alone accounted for nearly 43% of the all student deaths by suicide reported nationally.Prominent causes for deaths by suicide‘Family problems’ remained the leading cause of deaths by suicide nationally at 33.5% or 55,175 cases, preceding ‘illness’ at 17.9% (30,617), which encompasses deaths due to mental illnesses (14,305) and prolonged conditions like cancer (1,232).Drug abuse or addictions accounted for 7.6% of the total cases and marriage-related issues contributed to 8,524 deaths, with dowry-related causes (1,693) and extra-marital affairs (1,624) being the largest sub-categories with the group. Bankruptcy or indebtedness was cited as the reason in 7,529 cases, and unemployment in 2,479 deaths nationally.Furthermore, ‘failure in examination’ emerged as one of the direct causes for student deaths in India, contributing to 2,032 deaths across all age groups, according to NCRB data. Among children below the age of 18, ‘failure in examination’ was the leading recorded cause in 1,071 cases, while family problems contributed to 3,101 of such cases.Growing mental health crisis fuelled by academic pressureThe largest share of student deaths by suicide comprised of those educated up to Grade 10 or up to the secondary level at 25.6%, followed by Grade 12 or higher secondary (18.3%), Grade 8 or middle-school (17.7%) and lastly Grade 5 or primary level (14.4%).Kota, a city known as India’s premier “coaching capital” for competitive medical and engineering exams, recorded 17 deaths by suicide due to ‘failure in examination,’ along with 95 deaths attributed to ‘family problems.’These disturbing statistics provide a glimpse into the immense pressure borne by teenagers in India to do well in competitive exams like JEE and NEET for which over 13 lakh and 20 lakh applicants appeared respectively in 2026. Despite these staggeringly massive number of applications, only a small percentage of medical and engineering aspirants qualify, with an extremely dire seat-to-applicant ratio in top governmental institutes.The data reveals a heightening student mental health crisis fuelled by academic pressure and expectations. Weak familial support systems and toxic study environments leadings to deep-rooted psychological distress among young individuals.If someone you know is struggling, please reach out to them. The Suicide Prevention India Foundation maintains a list of telephone numbers to speak in confidence. iCall, a counselling service run by TISS, has a crowdsourced list of therapists across the country, you can reach them at +91 9152987821. You could also take them to the nearest hospital.