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A record high 527 students from elementary to senior high school age killed themselves in 2024, but the overall suicide rate in Japan declined, provisional figures of the health ministry showed.

Among the suicides of children, 15 were elementary school students, 163 were junior high school students, and 349 were high school students.

It was the highest total since 1980, when such statistics were first collected.

By gender, 239 of the children were male, down 20 from the previous year’s total, and 288 were female, up 34.

The ministry released the 2024 provisional figures on Jan. 29.

Overall, according to the figures, 20,268 people killed themselves in Japan in 2024, a decrease of 1,569, or 7.2 percent, from 2023.

It was the second consecutive year of decline.

By gender, 13,763 were male and 6,505 were female.

The number of suicides per 100,000 population was 16.3, down from 17.6 in 2023.

By prefecture, Iwate had the highest suicide rate, at 22.9 per 100,000 population, followed by Yamanashi’s 21.9 and Niigata’s 21.2.

In terms of “occupation,” the number of suicides among both employed and unemployed people decreased from the previous year. Only the category for “students, pupils and others” increased.

According to government statistics, the number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students has exceeded 300 every year since 2011.

The number surged to 499 in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has remained high since then.

The rise in suicides among junior high and high school students has been particularly sharp.

More than 140 junior high school students and more than 310 high school students have committed suicide each year since 2020.

According to demographic statistics for 2023, suicide was the leading cause of death among children aged between 10 and 19, as well as young adults in their 20s and 30s.

Japan is the only Group of Seven country where suicide is the leading cause of death among children aged between 10 and 19, according to the government’s 2024 white paper on suicide prevention.

In 2023, the government compiled an urgent plan to strengthen suicide prevention among children.

The plan included early identification of suicide risks and early support measures. It also called for the consolidation of statistics and data from police, schools, local governments and other organizations.

In response to the latest figures, the government will hold a liaison meeting of relevant ministries and agencies on Jan. 31 to discuss further measures.

The annual number of suicides in Japan remained in the 30,000 range from 1998 to 2011, and peaked at 34,427 in 2003.

The number decreased to 20,169 in 2019, about 60 percent of the peak, but increased again in 2020, the year the pandemic started.