Suicide Japan Japan Times

Suicide Japan The Japan Times

Until that year, Japan had between 22,000 and 24,000 suicides a year. In 1998 the rate increased by around 35 percent, and since 1998 the number of people killing themselves each year in Japan has consistently remained over 30,000. The current worldwide recession is, of course, impacting Japan, so unless the new administration initiates very proactive and well funded local and nationwide suicide prevention programs and other mental health care initiatives, including tackling the widespread problem of clinical depression suffered by so many of the general population, it is very difficult to foresee the previous government's stated target to reduce the suicide rate to around 23,000 by 2016 as being achievable. On the contrary, the suffering that people who become part of these numbers have to endure may well stay at current levels.

Bringing down the suicide rate | The Japan Times Online

Suicide Japan The Japan Times