South Korea registered its Greater suicide rate in 13 yearsa phenomenon that the country itself defines as a “Social disaster” and that constitutes the main cause of death among children under 50 yearsaccording to data published this Thursday by the National Statistics Office (Kostat).
The country recorded 14,872 deaths from suicide Last year, which is a rate of 29.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2001, the incidence had been 31.7.
Although in the global computation the suicide stood as the fifth cause of death, it was the main death reason between 10 and 49 years of age.
It is also the first year in which Lto the main cause of death among the lodgogenarians.
“It’s a social disaster “
The standardized OECD rate indicates that South Korea is the country’s country with the highest suicide rate, with a rate of 26,2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024.
The figure is well above the average among the members of the organization, of a 10.8.
The South Korean President, Lee Jae-myung, He has described the high suicide rates in the country as a “social disaster” and in September he presented a national prevention strategy with the aim of reducing the incidence to 17 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants by 2034.
In response to the Kostat report, the Ministry of Health said in a statement that experts identify that the rebound responds to multiple factors, such as economic and labor difficulties that through median generations, Mental and physical health problemsas well as the influence of celebrity suicides and their sensationalist coverage and the lack of resources in some communities to meet this type.
International specialists claim that suicide never responds to a single cause and that psychological, biological and social factors are treatable.