The seriousness of the suicide problem of children and adolescents is growing.
According to the report "Quality of Life 2022 for Children and Youth" published by the National Statistical Institute on the 27th, the suicide rate per 100,000 children and adolescents (0-17 years old) was 2.7 last year.
This is an increase of 0.2 from the previous year of 2.5 in 2020.
The suicide rate of children and adolescents has been on the rise every year since rising from 1.4 in 2015 to 1.5 in 2016.
In particular, the number of people aged 15 to 17 reached 10 for two consecutive years in 2020 (9.9) and last year (9.5), and the suicide rate between the ages of 12 and 14 surged from 3.2 in 2020 to 5.0 last year.
Through COVID-19, the obesity rate of children and adolescents has also increased noticeably.
It rose 3.9%p over the past two years from 15.1% in 2019 to 19.0% last year. It was analyzed that physical activity decreased as external activities were restricted due to COVID-19.
In addition, as the number of hours spent staying at home due to COVID-19 increased, the damage of child abuse increased, while the damage of "peer violence" decreased.
The experience rate of child abuse damage per 100,000 children and adolescents increased from 380.3 in 2019 to 401.6 in 2020, and showed an explosive increase to 502.2 last year.
On the other hand, the experience rate of peer violence damage decreased from 8.5% in 2018 to 5.9% in 2020.
The life satisfaction level of teenagers (15 years old) in Korea was 67% (as of 2018), which was the lowest among OECD countries.
Of the 30 comparative countries, only the UK (64%), Japan (62%), and Turkey (53%) had lower satisfaction with youth life than Korea.
Meanwhile, the number of children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 in Korea this year was 7.256 million, accounting for 14.1% of the total population.
Writer: Chelsie Song
(Picture from Unsplash)
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