Korea’s dishonor of being ranked OECD No.1 for suicide rate

In the Health Data 2015 released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Korea’s suicide rate in 2013 was 29.1 per 100,000, which has doubled the OECD average of 12. Although Korea’s latest data was not updated and the 2012 statistics were reflected, Korea ranked first for suicide rate among OECD nations for two years in a row. While competing with Hungary since 2000 for the disgrace of having the highest suicide rate, Korea beat Hungary (19.4 per 100,000) to become the No.1 at the latest report.

Korea’s suicide rate attributes to high suicide rate among the elderly. Taking one’s own life is the No.1 cause of death of Korean youth. But Korea’s youth suicide rate is not the OECD No.1. Instead, the rate of senior Koreans who kill themselves is 81.9 per 100,000 (as of 2012), which is the highest in the world. Behind the growing number of seniors who commit suicide are the three burdens – poverty, disease and solitude. The current generation of senior citizens have grown from large families and entered the twilight of their lives in the ear of nuclear families. While the Korean elderly have struggled to sustain their families throughout their entire lives, they couldn’t have any luxury to make provision for old age and are now being neglected by their children in the midst of family dissolution phenomenon. As the government started doling out the basic pension to the lower-income elderly since July last year, attentions are paid to how much suicide rate among the senior citizens would be decreased by the welfare system.

Hungary, ranked second for suicide rate, resembles Korea when it comes to high unemployment rate and growing gaps between the rich and the poor. It is analyzed that many Hungarians choose to kill themselves after failing to adjust to social chaos during the transition period from the communism to the capitalism. In the suicide rate list, Japan and Slovenia came in the third and the fourth. It shows that the stress level that the public bear is extremely high in Northeast Asia and the transition countries. Low suicide rates in Greece and Turkey, lower than the Nordic countries where welfare systems are well-established, indicate that the suicide rate has something to do with the national character.

High suicide rate is an evidence that many Koreans are not satisfied with the current life. Low birth rate is an indication that the public does not feel secure about the future life. Our ancestors had an optimistic perspective for life as the old saying goes, "even though you’re living in a field full of dog droppings, it is better to live rather than to die." The growing number of people who choose to die implies that the Korean society has become unhealthy in some aspects. High pressure from fierce competition and the society’s atmosphere to isolate those left behind may serve as the reason for high suicide rate in Korea.

shchung@donga.com