Overall mortality in Korea climbed back up last year, with 358,569 deaths recorded, a 1.7 per cent rise from 2023. - AFP
SEOUL: South Korea is facing a deepening suicide crisis, with new government data showing that intentional self-harm has overtaken cancer as the top cause of death among people in their 40s for the first time since records began in 1983.
Statistics Korea said Thursday (Sept 25) that 14,872 people died by suicide in 2024, up 6.4 per cent from the previous year and marking the highest toll in 13 years. The national suicide rate rose to 29.1 deaths per 100,000 people, its highest since 2011 and nearly three times the OECD average of 10.8.
