Korea ranks first in OECD suicide rate for 3 consecutive years

Last year, South Korea's death toll exceeded 300,000 for the first time in its history. Suicide is the number one cause of death among adolescents and people aged 20~30.

According to the "2020 Cause of Death Statistics" released by the National Bureau of Statistics on 28th, the total number of deaths last year was 304,948 people, an increase of 9,838 people (3.3 percent) over the previous year. The recorded mortality rate was 593.9 per 100,000 population, equivalent to a 3.3% increase from the previous year. This is also the highest number since the census was made (1983), and the death rate of the census is the highest since 1984 (585.2 people).

=> Read More: Top 10 suicidal countries in the world

Kim Soo-young, Head of the Population Trends Department of the Statistics Korea, explained that "the main cause of the death toll reaching the record high is the aging population". In fact, deaths due to the elderly over 80 years old account for 48.6% of all deaths. That's an increase of 15.2 percentage points from 10 years ago.

Cancer was the most common cause of death with 27.0%. The main causes of death vary by age. Cancer ranks first in people aged 1 to 9 years old and over 40 years old.

On the other hand, suicide ranked first among teenagers, 20s and 30s, and cancer ranked second. The number of people who died by suicide last year was 13,195, down 4.4% (604 people) from the previous year.

Korea ranks first in OECD suicide rate for 3 consecutive years

=> Read More: Top 10 suicidal countries in the world

The average daily death toll is 36.1. The number of suicides per 100,000 population was 25.7, down 4.4% (1.2). However, it still ranks first among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OEDC's average suicide rate, as measured by the number of suicides per 100,000 standard population, is 10.9, but in South Korea it's 23.5, more than double that.

The number of confirmed deaths from COVID-19 is 950. Of these, 54.5% are over 80 years old. The mortality rate per 100,000 population is 1.9, and the older the population, the higher the mortality rate. In which, the highest number of people aged 80 and over was 27.3.