Suicide deaths exceed 7,000 in H1
A pedestrian walks across Mapo Bridge in Seoul, a location known for frequent suicide attempts, Feb. 27. Yonhap
More than 7,000 people died by suicide in Korea in the first half of this year, according to government data Sunday.
A total of 7,067 people took their lives between January and June, slightly down from the 7,844 in the same period last year but similar to the 7,142 in the first half of 2023, showed data from Statistics Korea.
By age group, people in their 50s accounted for the largest share at 22.4 percent, followed by those in their 40s (19 percent), 60s (15.1 percent), 30s (13.5 percent) and 70s (9.8 percent), with other age groups making up the remainder.
Experts say suicide should not be viewed only as an individual issue but also as a broader social and structural problem requiring public health interventions.
In a recent article in the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs' (KIHASA) International Social Security Review, Choi Min-jae, a researcher at the Korea University Graduate School of Public Health, said the government should move beyond targeted interventions for high-risk groups to include "selective and universal" measures addressing risks across the general population.
He also urged the establishment of a comprehensive control tower to assess how fiscal, labor and other policies may affect suicide rates and to introduce complementary measures where notable risks are identified.
Korea currently holds the highest suicide rate among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which stood at 26.2 for every 100,000 people in 2024, far higher than the OECD average of 10.8.