More women than men think about suicide and actually attempt to take their own lives due mainly to economic pressures and psychological problems, according to a report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Thursday.
Every five years, the ministry carries out the suicide-related survey and the latest one, which was the third of its kind, was conducted on 2,807 adults aged between 19 and 75 from Aug. 25 to Oct. 8 last year.
In the survey, 14.7 percent of respondents said that they thought about suicide at least once in their lives, down by 3.8 percentage points from the 2018 survey.
Among them, 44.8 percent cited financial burdens as a major cause for such thoughts when multiple answers were allowed, followed by family problems at 42.2 percent and emotional issues at 19.2 percent.
More women than men felt suicidal, as 16.3 percent of women and 13.1 percent of men think about suicide.
Four in 10 respondents asked for somebody’s help after considering killing themselves, and among them, 7.9 percent consulted with a specialist, up 3.1 percentage points from the 2018 survey.
Among those who did not receive consultation services, 23.9 percent said they believed that time would solve things, while 23.1 percent and 17.1 percent said, respectively, that they wanted to get over their issues themselves and held out little hope of a good outcome regarding speaking with a specialist.
A related survey of 30,665 people who went through treatments at hospitals after suicide attempts last year, also showed that nearly twice as many women attempted to take their own lives as men, with women making up 64.8 percent of cases.
Younger generations represented a higher proportion, with individuals aged between 19 and 29 accounting for 29.4 percent. Those under 18 comprised 14 percent, while individuals aged between 30 and 39 were recorded at 13.9 percent.
Regarding the motives for suicide attempts, when multiple answers were allowed, 33.2 percent cited psychological problems, followed by interpersonal issues at 17 percent, conflicts and disputes with others at 7.9 percent, and financial pressure at 6.6 percent.
“We will actively reflect the results of the latest surveys when drawing up policies to prevent suicides,” said Lee Hyung-hoon, who is in charge of mental health policies at the ministry. “We will make our utmost efforts to reduce the suicide rate.”
The survey was conducted by the Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Hankook Research, under the health ministry’s control.
