South Korea is notorious for its high suicide rate,... and this can be seen once again in a new report.<br />Korea recorded the highest suicide rate in the OECD in 2016,... more than twice the OECD average.<br />Our Park Hee-jun has the details. <br />South Korea has once again been disgraced by being named as the country with the highest suicide rate in the OECD.<br />According to a report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service on Monday,... there were 25-point-8 suicides for every 100-thousand people in Korea in 2016,... which is way above the OECD average of 11-point-6.<br />Latvia and Slovenia had the second highest suicide rate with 18-point-1 suicides,... followed by Japan with 16-point-6.<br />Turkey had the lowest rate with 2-point-1 suicides. <br /><br />The Korean National Police Agency says the main cause of suicides in 2016 was psychological illness,... accounting for more than a third of the deaths.<br />But other significant factors included financial difficulties, physical illnesses, and family problems.<br />Experts also brought up the high income inequality compared to other developed nations,... and a low level of social integration.<br /><br />South Korea's suicide rate, however, has been on a steady decline since 2010.<br />Statistics show that it's been falling after reaching its peak in 2009, right after the global financial crisis. <br />The government has been working to lower the suicide rate through a range of countermeasures.<br /><br />Park Hee-jun, Arirang News. <br />
