The number of deaths caused by suicide in South Korea increased for the second straight year in 2019. 

According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday, 13-thousand-799 people committed suicide last year, which comes to nearly 38 people a day on average.  

The nation’s suicide rate stood at 26-point-nine per 100-thousand people, up nine-tenths of a percent from the previous year. The rate had declined from 2014 to 2017 before increasing in 2018.

By age, suicide was the number one cause of death among those aged ten to 39. Cancer was the main cause of death among people 40 or older.  The data found that, in particular, suicide among people in their 20s surged sharply followed by those in their teens and then 60s.  

By gender, the suicide rate among men was two-point-four times higher than that of women. However, the rate for men slid one-point-four percent on-year in 2019 while that for women rose during the same period.