Relation between suicide and poverty rates of household incomes

Abstract

In Japan, the number of people who committed suicides has increased by up to 30,000 and more since 1998. Of multiple possible reasons for their suicides, we noticed two main factors, each from the point of health conditions and economic problems: one is psychiatric disorders, and the other, low household incomes. This study was focused on examining and comparing the relation of the two above.
We calculated Pearson correlation coefficient on the data of household incomes, patients with psychiatric disorder, and people complaining of insomnia by all prefectures. As the result, in the prefectures of which ratio of household incomes are low, patients with psychiatric disorder, people worrying about their health conditions and also complaining of insomnia are large in number.
Therefore, for measures for people to prevent from suicides, we suggest to open additional counseling windows which deal with various kinds of problems including ill health and low economic conditions.