The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students exceeded 500 for a third consecutive year in 2024 despite a drop in the overall figure.

“The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students has reached 529, the highest since the statistics began,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi at a news conference Friday. “This is an extremely alarming situation, and we take it very seriously.”

  • Jack@lemmy.caEnglish
    6·
    6 days ago

    According to Sayidina:

    66.2% of these were high school students (349), 
30.9% middle school students (163), 
02.8% elementary school students (15).

    Causes cited (multiple causes means these total to more than 100%):

    349 Academic struggles, concerns about future paths.
284 Mental health issues, e.g. depression, 
148 family-related problems. e.g. conflicts with parents.

    This is from a non-paywalled older article from 2025-01 which gives the total of school-aged children’s suicides in Japan in 2024 at an all-time high of 527 (the 2 more in the newer article probably corrects cases incorrectly classified before).

    “A notable increase was observed among female middle and high school students”

    “In 2024, the number of suicides [for all ages] in Japan totaled 20,268, marking a decrease of 1,569 from the previous year and reaching the second-lowest level since records began in 1978.”