A total of 32,155 people killed themselves last year, down 1.2 percent, or 397, from 2005.

The NPA said Japan's economic recovery contributed to the decrease. The number of people who took their lives due to economic hardship went down by 10.1 percent to 6,969 in 2006.

But suicides by students rose 2.9 percent, or 25, to 886, the worst on record, which the NPA started keeping in 1978. Junior high-school student suicides saw a 22.7 percent increase, to 81, re-flecting several attributed to bullying last fall.

By age, suicides by people aged 60 or older and those aged 19 or younger saw an increase while a decrease was seen among those in their 20s to 50s.

Suicides committed by people aged 60 or older accounted for 11,120, or 34.6 percent, of the total, and those by people aged 19 or younger rose by 15 from the previous year to 623, comprising 1.9 percent of the total.

Men still accounted for about 70 percent of the total, but female suicides rose by 330 to 9,342.

Health problems were seen as the most common presumed reason behind suicides, accounting for 15,402, or nearly half, followed by economic and livelihood difficulties, the NPA said.

The Japan Times Weekly: June 16, 2007
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