Seoul: South Korea saw the highest number of suicide deaths in 13 years in 2024, with suicide becoming the major cause of death among those in their 40s and younger. Last year, the total number of deaths reported in the country came to 358,569, up 1.7 percent from a year earlier.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Statistics Korea reported 702.6 deaths per 100,000 South Koreans last year, an increase of 1.9 percent from the previous year. The report revealed that cancer accounted for 24.8 percent of total deaths, followed by heart disease at 9.4 percent, and pneumonia at 8.4 percent. These three causes were responsible for more than 42 percent of the total deaths in 2024.

Suicide emerged as the fifth-biggest cause of death for South Koreans, accounting for 4.1 percent. A total of 14,872 people took their own lives last year, marking a 6.3 percent rise from the year before. This translates to 29.1 suicides per 100,000 South Koreans, the highest rate since 2011.

The data highlighted that suicide remained the leading cause of death for individuals aged between 10 and 49 in South Korea in 2024. It was also the second-biggest cause of death for those in their 50s, marking the first time suicide was the primary cause of death among those in their 40s.

South Korea holds the highest suicide rate among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), standing at 26.2 per 100,000 people in 2024, significantly higher than the OECD average of 10.8.