Pandemic Raises Japan Suicide Rate After Decade Of Decline By Shingo ITO 01/22/21 AT 12:16 AM The number of people taking their own lives in Japan rose for the first time in over a decade last year, as the pandemic reversed years of progress combatting a stubbornly high suicide rate. Japan's health and welfare ministry said Friday that 20,919 people died by suicide in 2020 according to preliminary data, up 3.7 percent from the previous year. That compares with 3,460 deaths from coronavirus in the same period. It marks the first year-on-year rise in suicides in more than a decade, with women and children in particular taking their lives at higher rates.