Studies show that Korean elderly have committed suicide at a much higher rate than the youth

It's common knowledge that South Korea's suicide rate is one of the highest in the world. Recent studies have revealed surprising information however, showing that the suicide problem does not necessarily lie solely in the Korean youth. After analyzing data between 2005 and 2013, it was found that suicide rates were much higher among the elderly.

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According to studies, between the years of 2005 and 2013, South Koreans aged 80 and older committed suicide at a rate of five to seven times more than those aged 20 to 29. The data also showed that suicide rates rose with age. As shown in the chart above, older groups had committed suicide several times more than their younger counterparts.

Studies further found that suicide rates were higher in rural areas such as Gangwon, South Chungcheong, and North Chungcheong provinces rather than in urban cities like Seoul and Ulsan.

To find out the reason behind these suicides, the National Assembly Budget Office looked for correlation between suicide rates and other rates between the years of 1990 and 2012. They found that the suicide rate dropped when birth rate and economic growth rate were high, whereas the suicide rate rose when the divorce rate or income inequality increased. These correlations possibly indicate that events that occurred in family life and career life were major factors that drove people to choose between living and committing suicide.