Suicide Was The Number 1 Cause Of Death For Korean Teens

Teen suicide has risen in South Korea in the past 10 years to become the number 1 cause of death in 2016.

A report released by Statistics Korea lists the suicide rate per 100,000 aged between 9-24 at 7.8 in 2016, up from 6.0 in 2006.

The corresponding figure was 7.4 in 2003, 10.3 in 2009 and 7.2 in 2015. In 2006, suicide was second to traffic accidents as the highest cause of death among teens.

The nation’s suicide rate has been on the rise since the early 1990s, peaking in 1998 due to the economic downturn. It began declining again slightly afterwards, but since 2000 it has generally been on the rise.