Greenland, which has the highest suicide rate in the world, is it because of the midnight sun? Why Korea?

◇Cho Tae-im> This is Moamoa Fact Check, which organizes the week with fact checks. Today again, we are with fact checker Seon Seon-su. hello. Today you came with this topic. There is a sense that it is a bit unexpected. Why did you bring this topic?

◆Selected Number> On the 5th, there was content that ranked high in search at the portal Daum Cafe. It was. I thought it was talking about our country, so I clicked on it and saw what it wanted to talk about. Surprisingly, this content mentioned that Greenland is the region with the highest suicide rate in the world. So I decided to check the facts.

◇Cho Tae-im> Greenland is the region with the highest suicide rate in the world? Is the source reliable?

◆Seon Jeong-su> This is a post posted on a cafe bulletin board. I did indicate the source. I couldn’t connect because the link was broken. So I did some searching.

The content states, “Greenland has the highest suicide rate in the world, with one person per 1,000 people committing suicide, and one quarter of the total population has attempted suicide at least once in their lives.”

He continued, “Surprisingly, contrary to people’s expectations, Greenland’s suicide rate peaks not in the winter, when nights last for several days, but rather in the summer, when the midnight sun phenomenon occurs, in June, to be exact.”

As for the reason, he said, “Poverty, depression, and alcoholism are mostly cited as the causes,” and asked, “Why on earth do so many people commit suicide in June, the midnight sun?” He then suggests the cause, saying, “Some say that insomnia caused by the white night phenomenon can cause depression and thus suicide.”

◇Cho Tae-im> So, is the content of this post true? Let’s take a look at each one.

◆Seon Jeong-soo> First, let’s look at the suicide rate in Greenland. According to ‘our world in data’ Greenland’s age-standardized suicide rate in 2019 was 53.3 per 100,000 people.. The raw data was taken from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME: THE INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION). It’s the worst in the world.

It is followed by Lesotho (42.2), Guyana (32.6), Kiribati (26.6), Ukraine (26.3), Solomon Islands (24.6), Eswatini (24.5), Suriname (24.1), Lithuania (23.9), Zimbabwe (23.4), Micronesia (23.1), Russia (22.8), Kazakhstan (22.7), Nauru (22.6), and Marshall Islands (21.7) follow suit. South Korea is right behind with 19.5 per 100,000. It is true that Greenland has the highest suicide rate in the world.

◇Cho Tae-im> Let’s look into the claim that ‘one quarter of the total population has attempted suicide at least once.’

◆Selected Numbers> According to the Greenland census conducted in 2018, 13% of women aged 15 to 24 responded that they had attempted suicide in the past year. The response rate for men in this age group was 5.3%. In a 2022 study of forensic psychiatry patients in Greenland, 36% responded that they had attempted suicide at least once in their lives. Forensic psychiatric patients are psychiatric patients involved in crimes.

I could not find any data indicating that ‘one quarter of the total population has attempted suicide at least once’. However, compared to the 2% suicide attempt rate among Korean youth, we can see that people in Greenland are attempting suicide at a very high rate.

◇Cho Tae-im> The content explains, “Insomnia caused by the white night phenomenon causes depression and causes suicide.” Is it true?

◆Selected Number> There are several studies analyzing the high suicide rate in Greenland. In general, there are many studies that find the cause in rapid environmental changes and a break with tradition, such as residential relocation and destruction of lifestyles that occurred during Denmark’s colonial rule.

The Danish National Institute for Public Health <그린란드 이누이트 자살의 시간적 추세와 지리적 패턴>The paper stated, “Over the past 50 years, Greenland’s suicide rate has increased sharply, reflecting rapid social changes since the colonial era.” Preventive measures “must also include a strong focus on community and the protective factors of increasing intergenerational bonds and cultural connectivity,” the researchers said.

A study conducted in other Nordic countries where the midnight sun phenomenon occurs found that the suicide rate increased by 0.75% when daylight hours increased by one hour. Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health <일광이 자살률에 미치는 영향>The paper concluded, “Changes in sunlight do not explain seasonal peaks in suicide rates.” It may not be true that the suicide rate is high because of the midnight sun.

◇Cho Tae-im> I have heard many times that our country has the highest suicide rate. How did this happen?

◆Seon Jeong-soo> Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world, which means it is also first among member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As of 2020, Korea recorded a suicide rate of 24.1 per 100,000 people. Currently, among OECD member countries, no country has a higher suicide rate than Korea.

When Lithuania joined the OECD in 2018, the suicide rate in 2016 and 2017 was higher than that of Korea. Lithuania had a high suicide rate of 52 people per 100,000 in 1996, but it has continued to drop since then, reaching 18.5 in 2021. Last year, the suicide rate in Korea was 25.2.

Of course, our country’s suicide rate is lower than Greenland’s. However, Greenland has a total population of only about 56,000 people. Although the suicide rate is extremely high, there is no comparison when converted to the number of suicide deaths per year. Greenland had 34 suicide deaths in 2019. In Korea, 14,575 people committed suicide that same year. An average of 39.9 people committed suicide per day. Every life is precious. Greenland’s high suicide rate is a big problem. The fact that there are many people taking their own lives at a high rate in a place with a small population is something to be saddened and a problem that must be corrected.

◇Cho Tae-im> The situation in our country seems to be equally bleak. Isn’t the fact that we have the highest suicide rate among OECD countries at a time when we are already facing serious issues of hyper-aging and ultra-low birth rate a problem we should all be concerned about?

◆Jeongsu Seon> I think that the difficulties of giving birth and raising children and the difficulties of living ultimately come from the same root. Moreover, our country has an overwhelmingly high suicide rate among the elderly population. As of 2019, Korea’s suicide rate among people aged 70 and older is 73.7 per 100,000, ranking third in the world. The top 10 countries in the world are Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Greenland, Chad, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic. I am looking at our current situation, which is bitter.

◇Cho Tae-im> The government announced a plan to innovate mental health policy with the goal of reducing the suicide rate by 50% within 10 years.

◆Seon Jeong-su> Yes, it is late, but I think it is welcome that the government is paying more attention to people’s mental health. Next year, we will provide psychological counseling to 80,000 people in the medium- and high-risk group for 8 sessions of 60 minutes per person, and we will gradually increase the number to 500,000 by 2027. Starting in July of next year, we plan to provide suicide prevention education to 16 million people, including understanding the mind and how to request and provide help. For suicide prevention counseling, we decided to provide an emergency phone number, 109, that is easy for anyone to remember and access, and to introduce SNS counseling.

Currently, suicide prevention counseling (1393), mental health counseling (1577-0199), and youth counseling (1388) are divided into separate sections, so it was a bit difficult to memorize them. I hope that the government policy works well and the suicide rate decreases significantly.
Fundamentally, I think we need to change this structure, which makes life difficult for everyone, from children, young people, middle-aged, elderly, and elderly, to something more livable. It will relieve some of the overcrowding in the metropolitan area and make the area more livable. Let’s ease the kids’ competition.

◇Cho Tae-im> Let’s correct some misinformation related to suicide.

◆Seon Jeong-su> Yes, this is something we’ve covered before. Let me just summarize the main points. “People who say they will commit suicide don’t actually commit suicide” This is not true. It is said that people who attempt suicide usually show warnings or signs of suicide before they do so.. Nothing to say about death should be ignored. Anyone who wants to commit suicide is crazy. There is a saying like this, but it is also not true. Most people who commit suicide also think normally. But they say they are just angry, sad, depressed, hopeless, or experiencing extreme stress and emotional pain.

◇Cho Tae-im> If you decide to commit suicide, nothing can stop it. How about this?

◆Seon Jeong-su> This is also not true. It is said that even patients with very severe depression worry about whether to live or die until the last moment. Most people who attempt suicide say they do not want to die. It is also not true that people who commit suicide do not seek help. It is said that two-thirds of people who commit suicide visit hospitals and clinics due to various physical and mental symptoms before they die. Therefore, if doctors just ask all patients about their suicidal thoughts, they can save their lives. It is said that this is not being done properly in Korea. Some say that asking about suicide can actually make people think about suicide. This is also not true. It is said that asking suicide questions has the effect of preventing others from having suicidal thoughts. Rather, it is one of the ways to save someone who is about to commit suicide.

◇Cho Tae-im> What are some ways to prevent suicide?

◆Seon Jeong-su> It emphasizes asking, listening, and connecting. Ask directly if you are thinking about suicide. You will hear why you are thinking about suicide and why you can live now. Afterwards, connect. It helps you find experts who can help or organizations that provide services. It is said that it is a good idea to make your first reservation or visit together.

◇Cho Tae-im> Yes, it seems necessary to be aware of these preventive measures and to actively ask questions if there are people around you who are having a hard time rather than ignoring their pain. Until now, I have been a select number of fact checkers.