Korea Ranks First in Suicide Rate Among OECD Countries... Suicide Statistics Released Monthly

Annual Aggregated Reports to Be Published Monthly to Shorten Announcement Period... Preventive Policy Preparation

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The government has decided to publish statistics on suicide deaths, which were previously announced once a year, on a monthly basis. This is to quickly grasp the reality of suicide deaths in South Korea, which holds the unfortunate distinction of having the highest suicide rate among OECD countries, and to establish suicide prevention policies based on this data. However, there are concerns that exposing the number of suicide deaths every month could encourage suicide.

On the 17th, Statistics Korea announced that it has newly established a statistical system for suicide prevention at the end of last year, enabling the provisional tally of suicide deaths on a monthly basis. Accordingly, starting this month, the statistics on suicide deaths will be shortened from once a year to once a month. Until now, suicide death statistics were included in the 'Cause of Death Statistics' published annually by Statistics Korea in September, but now the statistics on suicide deaths will be separately extracted and provided monthly.

The government plans to actively utilize the disclosed statistical data for suicide prevention policies. Suicide prevention is a national agenda of the Moon Jae-in administration, and the Office for Government Policy Coordination's National Life Protection Promotion Team has been operating three major projects to protect citizens' lives since last year. The goal is to reduce deaths in the areas of traffic accidents, industrial accidents, and suicide by half by 2022.

South Korea's suicide rate ranked first among 36 OECD member countries in 2018. According to the '2018 Cause of Death Statistics' announced by Statistics Korea, the number of deaths by suicide last year was a total of 13,670, an increase of 1,207 (9.7%) compared to the previous year, and the suicide death rate per 100,000 population was 26.6.

A Statistics Korea official said, "Until now, the official statistics on suicide deaths, which are part of the cause of death statistics, have been announced only once a year, limiting the ability of related ministries and local governments to quickly establish suicide prevention policies." He added, "Going forward, with suicide death statistics being published monthly, it is expected that related agencies will be able to promptly grasp suicide trends and respond with policy measures."

Monthly suicide death statistics will be released around the 20th of each month through the National Statistical Portal (KOSIS) two months after the occurrence of suicides, and the number of suicide deaths nationwide and by gender will be disclosed.

However, the National Life Protection Promotion Team and Statistics Korea reportedly had differing opinions on whether to publish the suicide death statistics monthly in booklet form or to provide them through the National Statistical Portal. This is due to concerns that monthly publication of suicide death statistics might inadvertently encourage suicide.

A Statistics Korea official said, "Statistics on specific topics such as employment, prices, and population are often published monthly in booklet form, but we have decided not to adopt this format." He added, "Statistics will be disclosed only through KOSIS so that policymakers, researchers, and others who need the data can autonomously select and use the information."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.