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ChinaScience

Japan’s suicide rate has fallen in the pandemic and less work and financial stress may be factors, study suggests

  • Number of people who took their own lives from February to June was down 13.5 per cent from the average for that time, according to researchers
  • They say reduced working hours and government support may have eased pressure and contributed to the decrease

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The coronavirus pandemic has reduced working hours in Japan by 10 to 20 per cent, according to the study. Photo: AFP
Stephen Chen
The suicide rate in Japan has declined amid the coronavirus pandemic, and reduced working hours and government financial support could be among the factors contributing to the fall, a new study suggests.

It found that the number of people in Japan who took their own lives from February to June was down 13.5 per cent from the average for that period.

The estimated “number of averted suicide deaths during the pandemic is 1,027 from February to June 2020 [while] the number of direct deaths from Covid-19 is 974”, the team led by Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology researcher Shohei Okamoto wrote in a non-peer-reviewed paper posted on medRxiv.org on Wednesday.

Their findings were released a day after the Office for National Statistics said the number of suicides in Britain at the peak of the pandemic was down from 10.3 per 100,000 people to 6.9 per 100,000.

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Health experts have been concerned about a potential global mental health crisis associated with the pandemic, with an increased risk of suicide amid fears over the virus, anxiety about loss of income and economic turmoil, and distress caused by social isolation.
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