Though suicide in Japan has a long history as a way of avoiding shame or dishonour, and its suicide rate still tops the Group of Seven nations, a national effort has brought suicides down by about 40% in roughly 15 years. Suicides totalled 20,169 in 2019, 617 or 3.7% fewer than the previous year, and was the lowest since the compilation of data began in 1978. The suicide rate edged down to 16% per 100,000, a dip of 0.5% from the previous year and also the lowest in history. By contrast, the suicide rate for the United States, which has more than twice Japan's population and a growing suicide problem, was 14.2% in 2018. Though suicides result from multiple causes, bullying has remained a persistent problem in Japanese schools.

Source: bd News24 March 17, 2020 06:22 UTC