Society Child suicides in Japan hit record high in 2024

[thomas]

Heartwrenching news indeed.

While the overall number of people taking their own lives in Japan fell to 20,268, the second-lowest figure since records began in 1978, the number of children attending elementary, junior high and senior high schools in Japan who committed suicide last year was up 14 from 2023 and topping the previous high of 514 in 2022.

Among the suicides of children, 15 were elementary school students, 163 were junior high school students, and 349 were high school students. It was the highest total since 1980, when such statistics were first collected. By gender, 239 of the children were male, down 20 from the previous year's total, and 288 were female, up 34. The ministry released the 2024 provisional figures on Jan. 29. Overall, according to the figures, 20,268 people killed themselves in Japan in 2024, a decrease of 1,569, or 7.2 percent, from 2023. It was the second consecutive year of decline. By gender, 13,763 were male and 6,505 were female. The number of suicides per 100,000 population was 16.3, down from 17.6 in 2023. By prefecture, Iwate had the highest suicide rate, at 22.9 per 100,000 population, followed by Yamanashi's 21.9 and Niigata's 21.2.

Child suicides in Japan hit record high of 527 in 2024

A record 527 children attending elementary, junior high and senior high schools in Japan died by suicide last year, up 14 from 2023 and topping the previous high of 514 in 2022, preliminary government data shows.

english.kyodonews.net

Record number of schoolchildren killed themselves in 2024 | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

Suicide Hotlines Japan:

• TELL Japan
• Yorisoi Hotline
• Befrienders Japan (in Japanese)

 

[Petaris]

I wonder how many of those are because of bullying in school? The article gives some breakdowns but "school-issues" could mean other things as well.

 

[thomas]

NHK does not even mention ijime:

The reasons or motives for suicides among people aged 19 or younger included school-related problems such as poor grades and inability to decide a future course, health problems such as depression, and family issues such as bad relations with parents.

Suicides by minors hit record high in Japan in 2024 | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

The number of people in Japan who took their own lives fell to among the lowest on record last year, but the figure for students through high school hit an all-time high.

www3.nhk.or.jp

Anyhow, it's quite an increase over the 80s and '90s:

Photo credit: Asahi​

NHK World interviewed a counsellor yesterday. She mentioned that publicly raising the issue in Japan was taboo, but she believes more public discourse is needed.

 

[salyavin]

I can see economic uncertainty vs the greater opportunities of the 80s being a factor. I do not see how relations with parents can be that different. People had poor relations with parents though all of history. School grade pressure has been around for decades in Japan and Korea for that matter. Depression we'd have to get to the root of, that can be caused by so many things including cyberbullying or even just being online too much seeing how others live wonderful lives and are beautifil and they are not (this is a global issue). Anyway grade pressure and family relations I have trouble seeing how that is different than the 80s, economic uncertainty and thus not sure what is a good path for the future is different. Japan is at the moment becoming economically worse, future course would be a problem.

 

[mdchachi]

I think online connectivity/social media is a significant factor. There are many dark corners of the Internet.

 

[salyavin]

I feel lucky I went to high school in the 80s

 

[dracuella]

I think online connectivity/social media is a significant factor. There are many dark corners of the Internet.

It doesn't even have to be dark corner, you can just look at children's/young people's facebook pages. Some girls who didn't like my niece took a wide angle picture of her and photoshopped her into their picture, making her look obese compared to them. Any adult seeing this would most likely be very "eh.." about it but at the tender age of 12, she was very self-conscious and absolutely heartbroken a picture like that was online.
Girls can be absolute monsters.

 

[Petaris]

It doesn't even have to be dark corner, you can just look at children's/young people's facebook pages. Some girls who didn't like my niece took a wide angle picture of her and photoshopped her into their picture, making her look obese compared to them. Any adult seeing this would most likely be very "eh.." about it but at the tender age of 12, she was very self-conscious and absolutely heartbroken a picture like that was online.
Girls can be absolute monsters.

I agree, you only have to look to mainline social media to run into that. I doubt many youngsters have run into the dark corners of the internet, they are too busy viewing/updating their social media accounts. Bullying was definitely an issue before social media came along but at least you could go places to escape it and the public reach was usually limited to some extent.

 

[salyavin]

even just looking how people appear to live perfect lives on instagram and comparing their real life to that makes them feel worse. sure we had magazines in the 80s but instagram or similar shows many more people with carefully staged images people can feel inadequate comparing to.

 

[mdchachi]

When I said dark corners I was thinking of finding groups of people of certain mindsets. For example people who talk about and support each other in their efforts to commit suicide, rather than uplifting each other. Or adults who exploit children. More specifically though I was thinking about Natalie Rupnow -- the 15 year old in the U.S. who unalived a teacher and kids at her school recently. She had been hanging out in places that venerated the Columbine school killers. Also the Slender Man stabbing in Waukesha Wisconsin about 10 years ago.

 

[thomas]

I had to look up the meaning of "unalive".

It's a heartbreaking topic, but shouldn't be ignored:

In 2024, a record number of pupils and students died by suicide, even as the overall number of suicides fell to its second-lowest level since records began, according to a report released by the health ministry on 28 March. The total number of suicides for the year was 20,320—down by 1,517 compared to 2023, making it the second lowest since statistics were first compiled in 1978. However, the number of suicides among primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary school students rose by 16, reaching a record high of 529.

Suicides among men decreased for the first time in three years, falling by 1,061 to 13,801. The number of women also declined for the second year, down from 456 to 6,519. "Health-related issues" were cited most frequently as the cause or motive in 12,029 cases. This was followed by "economic and livelihood difficulties" and "family-related problems."

While the general trend was downward, suicides among females aged 19 and under rose by 51, marking an increase of approximately 13% from the previous year within that age group. By occupation, "students and pupils" was the only category to show a rise.

Record number of 529 students killed themselves in 2024 | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

 

[mdchachi]

I had to look up the meaning of "unalive".

As I understand it people use these words to avoid automatic censors on places like Facebook. I saw a post somewhere yesterday talking about "grape" and getting "graped." Took me a few seconds to figure out what the topic was.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Facebook was a nightmare when they first started using AI to police it. I got a 3 day ban for saying "I hope the court case gets "shot down" , LOL.

 

[musicisgood]

I wonder what the results are for young adults and older adults.