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)
**Somebody please fix this problem…**
Does Korea have programs in place for people to call if they need assistance? Additionally, does Korea have free healthcare?
That is averagely 29 people suiciding per day…
This breaks my fucking heart.
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.
Can’t the Koreans set aside one day a week, like Tuesday, and make it “hug a neighbor day”? I dunno.
This is sad 😥
Too much time on social media leading to negative mental health outcomes for a generation?
That’s a staggering amount.
This is so tragic.
It’s a sad world 🙁
If anyone needs to talk, I am here for you.
-Todd
Oh shit this is bad
Does the government ensure mental health lessons are taught and spend money on mental health awareness issues? How often do Korean celebs talk about good mental health and their struggles? I am trying to understand is there a major taboo about good mental health and so on?
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 private colleges in this country. She was one of the brightest students in our year class, 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.
Realistically though, in a country with a population of over 50 million, are ~13,000 people disappearing annually noticeable? My guess is that this is not big enough of a problem for the Korean government to actually do anything about it.
we need a global movement and cooperation to curb insane work culture and corporate tyranny. it’s just got to stop — it’s destroying us all. there is no reason with the advancements we have for any of us to be working more than three days a week, anywhere.
Then they should come over to the US we’ll take them, you can’t just throw out perfectly good South Koreans and japanesees
That’s rough. Korea kinda speedrun themselves into the modern world and sadly are taking on a lot of those quirks all at once. It’s almost amplified as well.. The way K-Pop groups are managed, the insane plastic surgery, working themselves to death, stressing themselves to death.
God I hope the world levels out pretty soon..
Wow, it’s like a society based on hyper-competitiveness with extreme social pressures is bad for your mental health. I always find Asian capitalistic countries interesting, it’s like a glimpse into the future for the rest of the working world.
I’ve been to South Korea and I can tell you they work long hours and even going to middle school you stay in class til mid night. This is insane and admirable at the same time. It’s just nice healthy
Absolutely tragic but is it really surprising though? Korea and Japan and to some extent Northern European countries have absolutely insane cultures regarding many things. It makes a lot of sense that those cultures mentally destroy people and push them to suicide.
25 comments
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)
**Somebody please fix this problem…**
Does Korea have programs in place for people to call if they need assistance? Additionally, does Korea have free healthcare?
That is averagely 29 people suiciding per day…
This breaks my fucking heart.
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.
These are extraordinarily very sad numbers.
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1087257.html
Not too surprising.
Holy shit…
Can’t the Koreans set aside one day a week, like Tuesday, and make it “hug a neighbor day”? I dunno.
This is sad 😥
Too much time on social media leading to negative mental health outcomes for a generation?
That’s a staggering amount.
This is so tragic.
It’s a sad world 🙁
If anyone needs to talk, I am here for you.
-Todd
Oh shit this is bad
Does the government ensure mental health lessons are taught and spend money on mental health awareness issues? How often do Korean celebs talk about good mental health and their struggles? I am trying to understand is there a major taboo about good mental health and so on?
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 private colleges in this country. She was one of the brightest students in our year class, 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.
Realistically though, in a country with a population of over 50 million, are ~13,000 people disappearing annually noticeable? My guess is that this is not big enough of a problem for the Korean government to actually do anything about it.
we need a global movement and cooperation to curb insane work culture and corporate tyranny. it’s just got to stop — it’s destroying us all. there is no reason with the advancements we have for any of us to be working more than three days a week, anywhere.
Then they should come over to the US we’ll take them, you can’t just throw out perfectly good South Koreans and japanesees
That’s rough. Korea kinda speedrun themselves into the modern world and sadly are taking on a lot of those quirks all at once. It’s almost amplified as well.. The way K-Pop groups are managed, the insane plastic surgery, working themselves to death, stressing themselves to death.
God I hope the world levels out pretty soon..
Wow, it’s like a society based on hyper-competitiveness with extreme social pressures is bad for your mental health. I always find Asian capitalistic countries interesting, it’s like a glimpse into the future for the rest of the working world.
I’ve been to South Korea and I can tell you they work long hours and even going to middle school you stay in class til mid night. This is insane and admirable at the same time. It’s just nice healthy
Absolutely tragic but is it really surprising though? Korea and Japan and to some extent Northern European countries have absolutely insane cultures regarding many things. It makes a lot of sense that those cultures mentally destroy people and push them to suicide.