Nearly Half of Young Japanese Have Thought About Committing Suicide: The Nippon Foundation Poll
Japan is the only country among the G7 nations where suicide is the leading cause of death among young people.
Following the passage in April 2016 of revisions to the Basic Act on Suicide Countermeasures, we launched The Nippon Foundation Suicide Prevention Project to support prefectural and municipal authorities in a bid to pave the way for a society where no one will be driven to suicide.
The revised law requires all prefectures, cities, towns and villages in Japan to implement suicide countermeasure strategies. The aim is to ensure that no matter where a person lives, they will receive suicide prevention support in the form of “comprehensive support for living,” so that no one feels driven to take their own life.
Our project includes supporting suicide prevention training for local government employees and residents, strengthening local suicide prevention networks, and raising public awareness nationally through local citizens and the media.
As part of the initiative, The Nippon Foundation conducted a survey on suicide from November 10 to 18, 2022, the fifth in a series since 2016, covering 14,819 people aged 18 to 29 across Japan, to update our understanding of attitudes toward suicide among young Japanese.
The poll, released in early April, found that nearly half of respondents (44.8%) have seriously thought about committing suicide and that one in five (19.1%) attempted to take their own lives or made preparations to do so.
The results of the latest poll clearly show that the number of people who have considered suicide in Japan is on the rise, given that the previous survey in 2021 found that about one in three people had considered suicide, although that survey targeted 15-19 year olds.
When the latest survey asked those who have considered suicide about what prompted them to have such thoughts (multiple answers accepted), more than half (51.4%) cited personal relations with those around them, followed by being bullied (36.6%) and serious concerns about their future (31.3%).
The survey also targeted those who have been victims of sexual abuse or crime, who accounted for 15.3% of all respondents. Of these, three in four (76.4%) have considered suicide, far more than those who have not been sexually abused or victims of crime (39.3%).
When asked if they talked to someone when having suicidal thoughts, more than half (56.6%) said no one, followed by friends and classmates (12.4%), mother (11.7%), boyfriend or girlfriend (7.8%), people they contacted on social networks (4.5%), medical institutions (4.1%), school counselors (3.9%), a spouse or partner (3.9%), relatives (3.8%), father (3.7%), and brothers and sisters (3.7%).
When asked why they hadn’t talked to someone, almost 40% (38.7%) said they simply didn’t want to, followed by those who said they were not good at talking to someone about their feelings (32.9%), they didn’t think it would solve anything (31.2%), they were reluctant to talk about their mental health problems (28.0%), and they didn’t know how to tell someone about their problems (21.1%).
Just 2.4% said they had talked to counselors at prefectural, municipal or other public entities. More than two in five (42.2%) said they had never heard of public counselors specializing in helping people with suicidal thoughts.
Asked what kind of counseling they would rely on or recommend if they or someone else were thinking of suicide, almost half (44.5%) said a service that respects privacy, followed by one that is available 24 hours a day (42.8%), is easily accessible on the internet (38.6%), will listen regularly to their troubles (34.7%), and can relate to what they are feeling (34.5%).
The foundation will study the results to see how we can best support local authorities and others in a bid to create a society in which everyone with the desire to live can do so, even if they face difficulties or feel driven into a corner.