Stats IQ: Student Suicide Rate

A recent Right to Information (RTI) response from the National Medical Commission (NMC) said that 64 MBBS and 55 postgraduate students died by suicide in the last five years.

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Context: A recent Right to Information (RTI) response from the National Medical Commission (NMC) said that 64 MBBS and 55 postgraduate students died by suicide in the last five years.

According to a study, 358 suicide deaths among medical students (125), residents (105) and physicians (128) were reported between 2010 and 2019.
Risk of suicide among doctors is almost 2.5 times more than the general population
Around seven out of 10 suicides took place before the age of 30.
Reason for Suicide:
- Academic stress among medical students (45.2%) and residents (23.1%), and marital discord among physicians (26.7%) were the most noticeable reasons for suicide.
- Mental ill-health was the next most common reason in medical students (24%) and physicians (20%), while harassment (20.5%) was a cause for residents.
- Up to 26% had exhibited suicide warning signs and only 13% had ever sought psychiatric help before ending their lives.

NCRB on Suicide

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) had also released the (Accidental Deaths and Suicide in India) ADSI Report in 2021.

Highlight of Report

Student Suicides in 2021:

The number of deaths by suicide by students saw an increase of 4.5% in 2021.
Maharashtra had the highest number of student deaths by suicide in 2021 with 1,834 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 1,308 and Tamil Nadu with 1,246 deaths.

Gender-wise student suicide rates:

The percentage of women’s student suicide was at a five-year low of 43.49% while men’s student suicides made up 56.51% of the total student suicides.
Women’s student suicides have increased. In 2017, 4,711 women students died by suicide while in 2021 such deaths increased to 5,693.

Educational status of student suicides:

The educational status of suicide victims was that only 4.6% of total suicide victims were graduates and above.
About 11% of the victims were illiterate, while 15.8% of them were educated up to the primary level.

Stats IQ: Student Suicide Rate_4.1