Japan recorded a record increase in suicides in 2020, despite the fact that the number of suicides has been declining in the previous 10 years. This is reported by The Japan Times, citing data from the Japanese Ministry of Health.
The publication associates such a jump with the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, it is noted that the number of suicides began to grow after the first lockdown. In 2020, suicide caused 20,919 deaths, up 3.7 percent from the previous year. Moreover, during the same period, six times fewer people died from coronavirus, namely 3,460 people.
In December, it was reported that the number of deaths from coronavirus in Japan for the entire time of the pandemic did not exceed the number of suicides in one autumn month. In October alone, 2,153 people committed suicide.
At the same time, back in January 2020, Japan recorded the lowest number of suicides in 40 years. In 2019, the Japanese authorities recorded 19,959 suicides, four percent fewer than in 2018. It was reported that for the first time the figure was less than 20 thousand and broke the minimum record of 1981 – 20 434.