Suicides in Japan

09Mar09

Suicides in Japan top 30,000 for 11th straight year Friday 06th March, 09:20 AM JST TOKYO —

The number of people who committed suicide in Japan in 2008 came to around 32,000, exceeding the 30,000 mark for the 11th straight year, a Kyodo News tally showed Thursday.

The figure was based on preliminary data released by police departments in Japan’s 47 prefectures. Government officials said the latest data do not necessarily reflect the adverse effects of the global financial crisis that started in the fall of 2008. But they said the number of suicides could increase in the future, noting that people who lost their jobs in the wake of the economic slowdown could face difficulties several months later.

Meanwhile, the police agency released monthly suicide data for the first time Thursday, saying that 2,645 people committed suicide in January this year. The figure is bigger than the 2,305 reported for January 2007 in a monthly population survey compiled by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Of the total for 2008, the number of suicides increased by more than 80 in Hokkaido and Nagano prefectures from a year earlier and by about 70 in Saitama Prefecture.

In contrast, the number decreased by about 120 in Hyogo Prefecture and more than 100 in Ibaraki Prefecture. Yamanashi Prefecture was top in terms of the number of suicides per 100,000 people, with a suicide rate of 40.8, followed by Aomori Prefecture where the rate came to 36.5.

According to the NPA report for January, 1,894 suicides were men and 751 women. Tokyo accounted for the largest number with 255, followed by 159 for Osaka Prefecture and 155 for Saitama Prefecture. Tottori Prefecture had the smallest number of suicides at 14. The annual number of suicides topped the 30,000 threshold for the first time in 1998, totaling 32,863, a sharp increase from the 1997 total of 24,391, according to NPA data. The figure swelled in 1998 amid an economic slump marked by a large number of business failures. Since 1998, the annual total has remained above the 30,000 mark. In 2003, the figure reached a high of 34,427. The figure stood at 32,155 in 2006 and 33,093 in 2007, according to annual NPA reports.

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