By Lee Kyung-min
A particularly high number of teenagers killed themselves last year, bucking the trend of a gradual decrease in suicide rates among all other age groups, government data showed Tuesday.
Enormous pressure to study and survive the competition to get admitted to good universities, bleak job prospects after graduation and "unstable broken homes," amid a harsh economy are among the drivers, the data noted.
According to Statistics Korea, the teenage suicide rate rose to 4.9 per 100,000 individuals last year, up 16.5 percent from 4.2 a year earlier.
The teenage suicide rate peaked at 5.5 in 2011 and had been on steady decline until 2016.
This is in stark contrast to the rates in other age groups. Last year, 13,092 people committed suicide, down 421, or 3.4 percent, from a year earlier. The overall rate was 25.6 per 100,000 people.
By age, the largest dip was shown among those in their 70s (13.5 percent) followed by those in their 80s (6.6 percent) and those in their 30s (1.8 percent). The rate among those in their 20s increased a mere 0.1 percent, statistically insignificant.
Suicide is the leading cause of death in Korea among those aged between 10 and 39; while cancer kills the most among those aged between 40 and 59.
The country's suicide rate is the highest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries. The second highest was Hungary at 19.4.
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