Nearly 40,000 Koreans took their own lives over the past three years, with the suicide rate increasing among the younger generation, data showed Wednesday.
A total of 39,453 people killed themselves from 2020 to 2022, according to data from the health ministry and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency submitted to Rep. Baek Jong-hean of the ruling People Power Party.
The tally was greater than the 32,156 COVID-19 deaths recorded over the same period.
The suicide rate has slightly decreased over the past five years to 25.2 people per population of 100,000 in 2022, but the suicide rate of teenagers and those in their 20s has been showing an upward trend.
The teenage suicide rate rose from 5.8 per 100,000 individuals in 2018 to 7.2 in 2022, while the rate for those in their 20s rose from 17.6 to 21.4 over the same period.
The number of suicide attempts also increased.
Last year, 36,754 people visited an emergency room after hurting themselves or trying to take their own lives, up 68 percent from 21,875 in 2012.
"The government should declare suicide as a national disaster and put in all-out efforts to fight it," Baek said. (Yonhap)
Throwedaway_69 on October 12nd, 2023 at 02:11 UTC »
One of my dear friends, a law school graduate, took her life a few years ago after failing to pass the bar exam.
She was an honors student throughout her life, graduating from one of the best colleges in this country. She was one of the brightest students in our class year, and she wanted to become a lawyer and make her parents proud.
When she failed at her first and second attempts, we tried to console her and say that she could make it. Instead she was being destroyed by the overwhelming pressure. While preparing for her third attempt at the bar, she eventually succumbed to it.
The society in which we live in pressures all of us to conform to the desirable lifestyle, defined by those whom I don't know. Everyone is expected to go to college, graduate, get a well-paying job at a large corporation, get married (to someone of the opposite sex), and have at least two children. But why should we conform to such rigid norms if none of us are happy with our lives?
This was a bit too personal, but I just hope everyone can lead meaningful lives and do whatever that makes them happy, because after all, it is YOUR life. Not all of us have to become doctors, lawyers, wealthy businesspersons, or get married to be happy. I just wish I could say this to my late friend.
Raynzler on October 12nd, 2023 at 00:07 UTC »
South Korea and Japan have a happiness and birth rate problem. It usually ties into cultural ideas about working your life away in what are really these beautiful and safe countries with great welfare and amenities.
They need to mandate work hours and enforce it from the top down. Managers need to leave when work hours end and take the pressure off others. The 40 hour work week needs to be mandatory. I doubt productivity will drop much with a refreshed workforce that can recharge.
And with more time and less stress, maybe people will actually have children.
greywarden133 on October 11st, 2023 at 23:42 UTC »
That is averagely 36 people suiciding per day...