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Japan appoints 'minister of loneliness' to help reduce suicide rate

Japan appoints 'minister of loneliness' to help reduce suicide rate

The national suicide rate rose for the first time in 11 years during the Covid pandemic.
23 Feb, 2021

Japan has appointed a “minister of loneliness” as the country deals with rising suicide rates.

According to Insider, the minister, Tetsushi Sakamoto, will be tasked with reducing loneliness and social isolation among residents through government policies.

Sakamoto is already in charge with dealing with Japan’s decreasing birthrate. Japan has one of the oldest populations in the world and its citizens aren’t having as many babies as it wants, which means a majority of its people are elderly.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had told Sakamoto earlier that women are suffering from isolation more than men and the number of suicides is on the rise.

In fact, during the Covid-19 pandemic Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years. There were 2,153 suicides in Japan in October 2020, compared to 1,765 Covid-19 deaths that year.

The Japan Times quoted police statistics that said, 20,919 people took their own lives in 2020, up 750 from the previous year.

Comments

masood wazir Feb 23, 2021 07:59pm
We are self sufficient for such ministries as lot of people will be benefited by adding Minister for loneliness.
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Browngirl Feb 23, 2021 08:01pm
Japan needs to open up like Canada, or else it will die out in a 100 years or so.
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Khaled Feb 23, 2021 08:05pm
We need such a minister out here too.
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