Jun 29 (economist.com) - Even though the national suicide rate has fallen by 30% since 2003, its current mark of 18.5 per 100,000 remains the third-highest in the OECD, a rich-country club.
In Japan, economic suffering seems to contribute to higher rates of suicide. After the collapse of the country's economic bubble of the 1980s, many Japanese companies underwent painful risutora, or restructuring. As the country's slowdown worsened during the 1990s, suicides spiked, particularly among middle-aged men who had expected lifetime employment at their firms. In 1998, when the Japanese economy fell into outright recession, suicides jumped 35% to over 32,000.
According to the National Police Agency, suicides stemming from economic difficulties accounted for nearly one in five such deaths. A study published in 2007 estimated that every one percentage point increase in the Japanese unemployment rate is associated with an additional 4,800 suicides.
Japan's government has made reducing suicides a priority. In 2007, authorities set a goal of reducing the country's suicide rate by 20% over ten years and committed $220m to prevention measures such as better workplace counselling. This month, the government set a new target of reducing the suicide rate by another 30% over the next decade.
