Eight Out of Ten Deaths in Tripura Are Men—The Crisis No One’s Talking About

Something unsettling emerges from Tripura’s death records – men are dying at an alarming rate compared to women. Over the past 16 months, the state lost 113,866 people, but here’s what’s shocking: 88,530 of them were men. That’s eight out of every ten deaths being male – a crisis that’s been hiding in plain sight.

An exclusive investigation by Ukhrul Times into the latest data from the Directorate of Family Welfare & PM, Government of Tripura, published through the Civil Registration System (CRS) portal, reveals mortality patterns that should keep every health official awake at night. Between January 2024 and April 2025, male deaths didn’t just outnumber female deaths – they crushed them across every single month, every season, and every type of healthcare setting in the state.

The numbers paint a devastating picture. Across Tripura’s entire healthcare network – from the state’s premier institutions like Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) & Govind Ballabh Pant (GBP) Hospital and Indira Gandhi Memorial (IGM) Hospital down to district hospitals and tiny Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres tucked away in remote villages – 50,929 men died compared to just 7,927 women. That’s more than six men dying for every woman in health institutions across the state. But the crisis extends beyond hospital walls: in community settings covered by Gram Panchayats, Village Councils, and urban municipal bodies, 37,601 men died against 17,409 women – still double the female mortality rate.

What’s truly alarming is how relentlessly consistent this pattern remains. Pick any month from the data, and you’ll find the same story. January 2025 was the deadliest month overall, claiming 8,744 lives when Tripura’s brutal winter was at its peak. Out of these deaths, 6,936 were men and 1,808 were women – that’s nearly four out of every five fatalities during the state’s coldest, most unforgiving time of year.

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But even during June 2024, the calmest month when only 3,430 people died across the entire state, men still accounted for 2,562 deaths while only 868 were women. This isn’t about bad months or good months – this is about a fundamental crisis affecting how men survive in Tripura.

Our analysis reveals how Tripura’s distinct seasons seem to hit men harder at every turn. During the harsh winter months when temperatures plummet and health risks soar, male deaths spike dramatically. January 2025 alone saw 4,106 men die in health institutions – the highest single-month figure recorded throughout the entire 16-month period. These weren’t just numbers in a government file; these were fathers, brothers, sons, and breadwinners whose families now face uncertain futures.

The scorching summer months of April and May tell an equally grim story. As temperatures peaked and the state sweltered under intense heat, April 2025 recorded 3,742 male deaths in health institutions alone. The pre-monsoon period, when March-April brings occasional relief through hill rainfall, offered no respite from this gender-skewed mortality crisis.

Even Tripura’s monsoon season, which typically runs from late May through September and brings life-giving rains, couldn’t break this deadly pattern. July 2024 saw 3,162 men die in health institutions compared to 423 women. August recorded 2,781 male deaths against 466 female deaths in healthcare facilities. September claimed 3,170 men while taking 453 women in institutional settings. Month after month, season after season, the massive disparity in health institutions remained unchanged. The official data shows this deadly trend isn’t limited to health institutions – it follows the same pattern in non-institutional settings like Gram Panchayats, Village Councils, Nagar Panchayats, and Municipalities.

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What makes these findings particularly disturbing is how they expose the extreme nature of healthcare-related mortality. In formal healthcare settings – places where people go when they’re fighting for their lives – men are dying at more than six times the rate of women. These are the critical cases, the emergency admissions, the desperate final battles against illness and injury. The stark reality is that when serious health crises strike in Tripura, men are far more likely to lose these battles.

The pattern extends into community settings as well, though with less extreme but still significant disparities. In non-institutional deaths recorded through Gram Panchayats, Village Councils, and municipal bodies across Tripura, men die at roughly twice the rate of women. This indicates that even in everyday living situations – deaths from accidents, sudden illnesses, or chronic conditions managed at home or outside hospitals, healthcare centres – men face consistently higher mortality risks.

The spring season, traditionally a time of renewal when temperatures are mild and conditions favourable, still couldn’t offer men protection from this crisis. March 2024 claimed 3,198 men in health institutions alone, while March 2025 showed similar patterns with 2,922 men dying in healthcare facilities during what should be one of the year’s gentler months.

Behind every one of these statistics lies a family forever changed. When 88,530 men die in just 16 months while only 25,336 women face the same fate, we’re not just looking at health data – we’re witnessing a social catastrophe unfolding in real time. In countless homes across Tripura, wives have become widows, children have lost fathers, and parents have buried sons at rates that defy normal demographic expectations.

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The most troubling aspect of this crisis is how it intensifies within the healthcare system itself. While community-level deaths show men dying at twice the rate of women, health institutions reveal an even more severe reality where male mortality jumps to over six times the female rate. This indicates that when health emergencies reach the point requiring institutional care, men either arrive in more critical conditions, respond less favourably to treatment, or face underlying health vulnerabilities that prove more life-threatening.

The consistency of this crisis across all months and seasons indicates this isn’t about isolated incidents or seasonal flu outbreaks. Something systematic is affecting Tripura’s men at rates that should trigger emergency health interventions. Whether it’s occupational hazards, lifestyle factors, delayed healthcare seeking, genetic vulnerabilities, or access issues, the state’s men are clearly facing survival challenges that women aren’t experiencing to the same degree.

What’s perhaps most troubling is how this crisis has remained largely invisible despite its magnitude. While 88,530 families grieved the loss of men over these 16 months, the broader conversation about gender-specific mortality risks in Tripura has been virtually silent. Health policies, intervention programs, and public awareness campaigns have yet to grapple with the reality that eight out of every ten deaths in the state involve men, with the disparity most extreme in healthcare facilities themselves.

The implications stretch far beyond individual tragedies. In a state where men often serve as primary earners and heads of households, this mortality crisis creates economic shockwaves that ripple through entire communities. Families lose income, children lose guidance, and social structures strain under the weight of disproportionate male mortality.

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Health authorities now face urgent questions that demand immediate answers. Why are Tripura’s men dying at such extraordinary rates, particularly within the healthcare system where survival should be most likely? What specific factors – environmental, occupational, behavioural, or biological – are creating this deadly gender gap that becomes most pronounced in medical emergencies? Most importantly, what steps can be taken to prevent thousands more families from experiencing preventable losses?

The data screams for action, but action requires acknowledgment. Until Tripura recognizes that eight out of ten deaths being male represents a public health emergency – one that reaches crisis proportions within the healthcare system itself – these numbers will continue climbing while families continue suffering in silence. The crisis is real, the evidence is overwhelming, and the time for response is now.