Suicide Trends over Time by Occupation in Korea and Their Relationship to Economic Downturns

Abstract

We analyzed suicide mortality by occupation using administrative data from 1993 to 2016. Methods: National death records from 1993 to 2016 of the Korea National Statistical Office (KNSO) were used. Suicidal death was taken from Korean Classification of Disease codes as intentional self-harm (X60-X84) and sequelae of intentional self-harm (Y870). Occupational groups were categorized into "Manager," "Officer," "Service-Trade," "Agricultural-Fishery-Forestry" (AFF), "Skilled Manual," and "Unskilled Manual." Direct standardized mortality (DSM) and standardized mortality ratio (SMR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated. Overall, suicide rates increased during economic downturns, especially among lower socio-economic occupation classes. Both DSM and SMR were highest in AFF, followed by Unskilled Manual, Service-Trade, Officer, Skilled Manual, and Manager categories among men, whereas women showed the highest DSM and SMR in AFF, followed by Service-Trade, Officer, Unskilled Manual, Manager, and Skilled Manual categories. The age-stratified analysis showed that age groups with increasing trends in suicide differed according to occupation and gender. In certain occupational groups, the time-point prevalence fluctuated with socio-economic background in suicidal mortality and differed by age and gender.

Keywords: economics; occupations; suicide.

Figure 1

Direct standardized mortality rate per 100,000 and standardized mortality ratio (ref = 100) from 1993 to 2016. Reference population was total working population during 1993–2016.

Figure 2

Crude mortality per 100,000 according to age groups 20–39, 40–49, and 50–59. Note: In each graph, different scales were used to highlight the comparison between age groups.