Every now and then, the country comes across the heart-breaking news of teenagers taking their lives after failing an exam, of students who could not endure bullying, peer pressure or abuse, of children whose silent distress went unnoticed until it was too late. A number of recent incidents come to mind instantly. In Ghaziabad three sisters, reportedly excessively addicted to K-Pop culture, died after they jumped off the ninth floor of their residential building; in Delhi a boy studying in Class X reportedly jumped to death at a Delhi Metro station, allegedly following mental harassment by school teachers, according to the suicide note he left; in Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh a 15-year-old girl ended her life after accusing the principal of her school of sexually harassing her, according to the local police.
These incidences surface with worrying frequency across the metropolitan cities and small towns, revealing a deeper crisis that goes beyond individual tragedies. The trend shows that the emotional stress and psycho-social health burden on India’s children and adolescents are escalating, and the urgency to respond has never been greater.
Increasing mental-health burden
The global context underscores the gravity of the crisis. While a 2025 report by World Health Organization (WHO) logs the number of deaths by suicide at 7,27,000 in 2021, a study in ‘Psychiatry Research’ (2023) found that individuals with psycho-social disorders carry a 16-time higher risk of suicide, a trend that holds across countries and age groups.
India’s psycho-social health landscape reflects similar vulnerabilities.
The National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) conducted by National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in 2015–16 revealed that 15 in every 100 Indians suffer from some kind of mental-health disorder at some point in their lives. A more recent NIMHANS analysis (2019) claimed a significant gender disparity, with women exhibiting a higher prevalence of depression, anxiety, and other allied complaints.
COVID-19 deepened vulnerabilities
The COVID-19 pandemic only deepened these vulnerabilities. Despite the government’s efforts, including running a 24×7 helpline for psycho-social assistance, conducting mental health assistance programmes for the frontline workers and issuing stress-management advisories on a regular basis, mental health management systems continued to fall short, especially for children and the young adults who often remained invisible within the broader psycho-social well-being discourse.
An article titled ‘Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide: Large-scale meta-analysis of 192 epidemiological studies’ published in Nature in 2021 said: “the proportion of individuals with onset of any mental disorders before the ages of 14, 18, 25 were 34.6 per cent, 48.4 per cent, 62.5 per cent (respectively)”. If the roots begin this early, one might argue that the rising trend of suicide among children is not simply a reflection of momentary stress – rather, it signals long-term distress shaped by childhood environments, lived expectations and experiences and systemic neglect.
NCRB data points at major causes
According to the National Crime Records Bureau NCRB) data, child suicides increased from 9,613 in 2019 to 10,785 in 2023, which represents a significant 12.2 per cent rise in four years. Within this group, family problems contributed to 2,568 deaths, emotional and relationship stress to 1,724, and academic pressure (failure in examinations) to 1,303 cases. These figures mirror the stories that dominate the news cycle: children struggling under academic expectations, adolescents navigating emotional turmoil both within the family and school without proper guidance or counselling and young people bearing the burden of household conflicts.
Gender divide
Gender patterns in the cases of suicide among adolescents expose deeper inequalities. The NCRB data shows that suicides among boys below 18 years increased from 4,405 in 2019 to 4,961 in 2023, reflecting a rise of 12.6 per cent, while suicides among girls below 18 years grew from 5,208 to 5,823, marking an increase of 11.8 per cent during the same period. The trend shows that boys are more vulnerable to pressures related to examinations, addiction and unemployment, whereas girls face higher risks associated with abuse, relational stress, and emotional strain. This trajectory aligns with the 2019 NIMHANS study, which highlighted the disproportionate mental-health burden on women, suggesting that the seeds of distress are sown early.
Students under stress
In 2023, India recorded 13,892 students’ suicides, accounting for 8.1 per cent of all cases of suicide. Boys constituted around 53 per cent and girls contributed to 47 per cent of these deaths. Academic pressure and bullying/abuse in school remain a recurring factor in student suicides, but its intensity varies across regions.
Between 2019 and 2023, student suicides rose sharply in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, and Delhi (union territory). In contrast, Puducherry, Odisha and Arunachal Pradesh showed a decline. The five states that showed the highest number of suicides overall between 2019 and 2023 were Uttarakhand (82.17 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (63.53 per cent), Bihar (44.46 per cent), Tamil Nadu (44.39 per cent) and Dadra and Nagar Haveli/ Daman and Diu (42.55 per cent).
Bridging the gaps
India has made commendable progress through Tele-MANAS, the National Mental Health Programme, Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. Yet the gaps still remain. The 2015–16 NIMHANS survey found that 70 per cent to 92 per cent of people with psycho-social disorders do not receive adequate treatment due to stigma, lack of awareness, and severe shortage of professionals. Against the WHO recommendation of three psychiatrists per 100,000 people, India has only 0.75.
Addressing suicide among children and adolescents requires systemic investment in early intervention. While well-defined mechanisms should be in place in schools toward delivering robust counselling services, parents, teachers and caregivers should also be adequately trained to identify early warning signs. Community-level systems need to be built to offer accessible psycho-social support. Awareness campaigns should be empathetic, culturally rooted and evidence-driven. And finally, digital mental-health solutions should be integrated responsibly and equitably.
Silence cannot be normalised
For India to meet the target mandated by the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, the psycho-social well-being of children must be treated as a national priority. The earlier we listen to them, the earlier we will be able to intervene. And the earlier we build safe environments around them, the fewer lives we lose to preventable tragedy.
But change at scale needs more than institutional obligation, it needs collective resolve. India’s children deserve a world where their struggles are acknowledged early, met with care and never dismissed as “growing up pains”.
The writer is CEO, CRY – Child Rights and You, an NGO in India that works with children, parents and communities