The number of suicides increased nearly 19 percent last year from a year ago to exceed 14,000, about a third of them more than 61 years old, according to a police report Wednesday.
The National Police Agency said 14,579 people took their own lives last year, 18.8 percent more than the year before. It said 31.6 percent of them were 61 years or older, and 18.9 percent in their 40s. Three percent were under 20, it said.
But people in their 20s were most susceptible, with the rate of suicide among them increasing 35 percent over the past three years, according to the police report.
Health problems were the most common reasons for the suicides. The report attributed 28.2 percent to depression and 21.9 percent to physical illness.
Other reasons were financial difficulties, family problems and troubled relationships, the police agency said.
According to a report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 24.3 out of every 100,000 people committed suicide in 2008, the highest ratio among the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
South Korea has a population of 49.9 million.