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| This shows a special phone installed on the Mapo Bridge over Seoul's Han River, which connects a person considering suicide by jumping off the bridge directly to a counselor, as part of efforts to prevent suicide. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon |
Korea's suicide rate slightly increased in 2021 amid the pandemic, data showed Monday, led by people in their 20s and those aged 70 and above.
The number of suicides for every 100,000 Koreans came to 26 in 2021, up 0.3 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
The rate among males aged 70 and above came to 81.8 in 2021, up from 79.5 recorded the previous year. As for females, the rate for the age group came to 25.7, also up from 24.6 tallied a year earlier.
Korean men aged between 20 and 29 posted a suicide rate of 27.1 in 2021, up from 23.8 in 2020. Over the period, the rate for females in the age group rose from 19.3 to 19.6.
The country has the highest suicide rate among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Korea topped the list with 25.4 suicides per 100,000 people in 2019.
Korea's life expectancy came to 83.6 years in 2021, up 0.1 from a year earlier, the data also showed. Women were likely to live 86.6 years on average, six years longer than their male counterparts.
The report also showed that 20.8 percent of Koreans aged 65 and above lived alone in 2022, up 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier.
The number of children experiencing abuse for every 100,000 came to 502.2 in 2021, an increase of 100.6 from a year earlier, the data also showed.
Koreans, however, were better off in terms of employment and income over recent years.
The average monthly wage of salary workers was 3.19 million won ($2,450) in 2021, slightly rising from 3.18 million won tallied a year earlier.
Employees on average worked 164.2 hours a month, up 0.6 hour from 2020.
The per capita gross national income (GNI) came to 39.49 million won in 2021, up 4.6 percent on-year. (Yonhap)
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