Nearly 40,000 South Koreans committed suicide over past 3 years: Report

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) – Nearly 40,000 South Koreans allegedly committed suicide during the last three years as the East Asian nation is already facing a low birth rate, and falling population, data showed on Wednesday.

From 2020 to 2022, at least 39,453 people committed suicide, while more than 32,156 people lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported, citing the Health Ministry data.

“The suicide rate has slightly decreased over the past five years to 25.2 people per population of 100,000 in 2022, but the suicide rate of teenagers and those in their 20s has been showing an upward trend,” the agency reported.

The ruling People Power Party lawmaker Baek Jong-hean urged the government to declare suicide a national disaster and put in all-out efforts to fight it.

South Korea is also facing a decline in childbirth because many young people are distancing themselves from marriage and having children due to the lack of decent job opportunities, high home prices, and heavy private education fees.

In April this year, the state-run Statistics Korea data showed that the birth rate in the country dropped to an alarming new low of 0.78 per woman in 2022 as fertility continued its steady decline despite spending about $200 billion over the last 16 years to promote population growth.

The World Economic Forum in its latest report warned that if the current low birth rate continues, the East Asian nation "will be less than half what is now by the end of the century."

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid