Over 7,000 Suicides Recorded in S. Korea in First Half of 2025

Government data released on Sunday revealed that more than 7,000 people took their own lives in South Korea during the first six months of this year, highlighting the country’s ongoing mental health crisis.

According to figures from Statistics Korea, 7,067 suicides were recorded between January and June 2025, a slight decrease from 7,844 cases in the same period last year, and similar to the 7,142 reported in the first half of 2023.

By age group, people in their fifties accounted for the largest share at 22.4%, followed by those in their forties (19%), sixties (15.1%), thirties (13.5%), and seventies (9.8%). The remaining proportion was made up of other age groups.

Experts emphasize that suicide should not be seen solely as an individual issue, but as a broader social and structural problem that requires comprehensive public health interventions.

In an article published in the International Social Security Review by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Choi Min-jae, a public health researcher at Korea University, urged the government to move beyond narrowly targeted interventions and adopt more “selective and inclusive” measures to address suicide risk across society.

Choi also called for the creation of an integrated monitoring center to assess how financial, labor, and other policy changes influence suicide rates, recommending the implementation of complementary measures when significant risks are identified.

South Korea continues to have the highest suicide rate among OECD member nations, with 26.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2024, more than double the OECD average of 10.8.