No. of suicides falls below 30,000 for 1st time in 15 years

Jumat, 18 Januari 2013 01:07

(TOKYO-Kyodo) The number of suicides in Japan last year slipped below 30,000 for the first time in 15 years, falling 9.4 percent from the previous year to 27,766, the National Police Agency said in a preliminary report Thursday.

The annual figure remained between 20,000 and 26,000 from 1978 to 1997 before hovering above 30,000 since 1998.

Suicides among men totaled 19,216 in 2012, down 1,739 from the previous year and falling below 20,000 for the first time also in 15 years, the NPA said. The number of female suicides came to 8,550, down 1,146.

A Cabinet Office official in charge of suicide prevention efforts attributed the decline largely to progress in countermeasures taken by local governments across the country, including promoting counseling and enhancing diagnostic ability at mental health clinics.

But the official pointed to the need for further efforts, saying the latest figure is "still at a high level."

Monthly totals fell below those from a year earlier in nine months of 2012, with May and June recording sizable decrease of 25.5 and 24.1 percent, respectively. By month, the number of suicides was highest in March with 2,584.

"A community-based approach over the past three years, aided by 10 billion yen in state subsidies, must have been effective as it helped the private sector offer consultations and hotlines," said Yutaka Motohashi, vice president of Akita University, who studies countermeasures against suicides.

He added, however, it is necessary to examine which local governments were unable to make significant achievements and to urge them to review their measures.

Faced with a stubbornly high rate of people killing themselves, the central government introduced a new guideline for countermeasures last August in an effort to create "a society where no one is forced to commit suicide." The measures include support for attempted suicide survivors.