More people in Japan died by suicide in October than have died of COVID-19 during all of 2020, raising concerns about the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that has left many unemployed and in social isolation.
Suicides rose to 2,153 in October, according to Japan’s National Police Agency. Over 17,000 people in Japan have committed suicide in 2020, compared to fewer than 2,000 people who have died from COVID-19 during the same period.
“We need to seriously confront reality,” chief government spokesman Katsunobu Kato said of the rising suicide rates of the country while announcing new efforts the country hoped would assist potential suicide victims.
While suicide has historically been an issue in Japan, the country had made strides in recent years to combat the problem. The number of suicides in the country peaked in 2003 but has steadily fallen every year since 2009 to record lows in 2019.
That trend has seen a reverse in 2020, with 600 more people committing suicide in October than did during the same month in 2019. Suicide rates among women have been one of the biggest factors in the spike, rising 80% in 2020.
Psychiatrist Chiyoko Ueda blamed the spike in suicides on the country’s pandemic response, saying people are struggling with money and disruptions to normal life.
“My self-esteem is low because I’m worried about money; The stay-home situation has disrupted my life; My kids and I don’t get along,” Ueda said in an interview.
U.S. researchers have worried that a similar problem could play out at home, estimating that the pandemic response could cause 75,000 “deaths of despair” due to financial stress and social isolation.
“We’re in the midst of a mental health epidemic right now, and I think it’s only gonna get worse,” Dr. Vivian Pender, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association, said in a CBS interview earlier this month. “I think in a way, the worst is yet to come, in terms of mental health. There’s gonna be tremendous grief and mourning for all the lost people, and the lost opportunities, and the lost dreams and hopes that people had.”
