Column Finance and the Social Security System 2018.06.01
In March 2018, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that the number of suicides in 2017 was 21,321 (Figure 1). The sharp increase in the number of suicides from 21,346 in 1990 to 32,863 in 1998 is considered to be the effect of the bubble economy bursting in 1991. However, the reasons why the number of suicides exceeded 30,000 during 1998 to 2011 and decreased since 2012 are unknown. The problem is that the suicide rate in Japan is relatively high among developed countries despite such a decrease in the number of suicides (Figure 2).
Source: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
Source: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare