How often does suicide occur in Japan ?

 ２. How often does suicide occur  in Japan ?

In previous blog we talked about what suicide is so… how high do you think the suicide rate is in Japan ? All people might have different opinions to this questions because of their different circumstances and surrounded environment.We will be looking closely categorizing in male, female, elderly, and minors. 

In 2022, there were 21,881 suicides, an increase of 874 (4.2%) from the previous year.　The number of male suicides is about 2.1 times higher than that of female suicides.

Males 

For males, this is the first time in 13 years that the number of suicides has increased. (From the most recent 2022 data.) In addition, the "Analysis of Suicide Situation" published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2016 indicated that the causes and motives for suicide are "economic and lifestyle issues" and that there is a correlation between increases and decreases in economic indicators and "economic and lifestyle issues". In fact, when the employment situation worsened along with the economy, as in the 1998 shock and the Lehman Shock (2008), the number of male suicides increased from the previous year. Some say that men have higher suicide potential.

By reading this I thought that workplace is one of the biggest reasons for men to commit suicide. For having this position in my company I thought that I want to be more careful in taking care of of their workers mental health.  

Woman 

The number of women has increased for 3 consecutive years. (From the most recent data 2022)According to the results of a research team led by Miyazaki and others, for women, the reasons for suicide include "family problems" at 40%, "marital discord" at 39.1%, and "nursing/caregiver fatigue" at 25%.It may be that the Corona virus(COVID-19) has increased the household burden on women, causing some of them to feel stressed and lonely.

Elderly

Suicide rates of elderly in Japan.  18.1 were 60s, 17.5% were 50s, 16.5% were 40s and 14.5 were in their 30s. The number of suicides among middle-ages men and older men has remained at a high level since 1998 and people from 30s to 60s  was accounted for 50.6% of all suicides. The number of suicides among the elderly. The number of suicides among elderly decreased as the age group increased during this period. The number of suicides peaked in 2013 and has continued to decline since then.

Minors (younger age)

Compared to 2009, the most recent peak year for the annual number of suicides, the number of suicides among young people in 2008 decreased by 38.2% among those in their 20s and 46.2% among those in their 30s.

Decrease in Suicide Mortality Rates without the Effect of Population Change, in percentage terms, the suicide mortality rate declined 29.1% for those in their 20s and 32.6% for those in their 30s. Family, health, financial, and work seems to affect people’s suicide rates.

令和4年中における自殺の状況 - 警察庁Webサイト. (n.d.). https://www.npa.go.jp/safetylife/seianki/jisatsu/R05/R4jisatsunojoukyou.pdf

庄司友里. (2023, March 11). なぜ男性は女性の3倍も自殺者数が多いのか？ - パパゲーノ物語. パパゲーノ物語 - 自殺と研究と起業の話. https://mentalhealthbiz.net/male/#i-1

女性の自殺 理由「子育ての悩み」など「家庭内の問題」が増加. 日テレNEWS. (2022, June1).https://news.ntv.co.jp/category/society/070acaebb8104f138b6bdb2db538cece

若年層の自殺をめぐる状況 - MHLW.GO.JP. (n.d.-b). https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/r1h-2-3.pdf

4後期高齢者層における 節 自殺をめぐる状況 - mhlw.go.jp. (n.d.-a). https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/r2h-2-4.pdf

総務省. (n.d.-c). https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000164590.pdf