What drives Kazakh children to suicide: main causes revealed by Interior Ministry

Tengrinews.kz - Kazakhstan has registered 432 cases of suicide among minors since the beginning of 2025, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Sanjar Adilov reported.
According to Adilov, more than half of the children came from families without financial difficulties.

“We conducted a large-scale analysis, first looking at the family backgrounds of the children. It turned out that 62 percent of minors who committed suicide lived in intact families with good material well-being,” the deputy minister said.

He noted that the causes of these tragedies vary, including unrequited love, family conflicts, parental restrictions on mobile phone use, and difficulties at school or with studies.

“We also analyze suicide notes. While these are personal, they are used during posthumous forensic psychiatric examinations to determine motives. However, the main trigger remains family quarrels, which most often lead to suicide,” Adilov explained.

He added that despite preventive measures, the rate of child suicides in Kazakhstan remains high. As a result, the Interior Ministry has submitted recommendations to the Ministries of Education and Health to make the prevention of child suicides a priority.
In situations where it feels like there is no way out of life’s difficulties, free hotlines and psychological support services are available to help:

Unified State Contact Center “111 — Amanat” (family, women, and child protection; 24/7; anonymous)
National Hotline for Children and Youth — 150 (psychological support; Monday–Friday, 9:00–18:00; anonymous; WhatsApp: +7 708 106 08 10)
Hotline 1303 (psychological support via the Center for Psychological Health, Almaty; anonymous; alternative numbers: +7 708 983 28 63, +7 727 376 56 60)