March 29, 2024
Analysis

Experts criticize WHO’s North Korea suicide stats

Data based on risk factors present in other countries doesn’t hold up in the North, scientists say

A study released last month by the World Health Organization placed North Korea’s suicide rate at among the worst in the world, but a number of scientists have slammed its conclusions.

The report, Presenting Suicide: A Global Imperative, estimated that 9,790 North Koreans took their own lives in 2012. This would give the North a higher suicide rate than South Korea, a nation with a notorious problem of people taking their own lives. In fact, among the nations surveyed the report placed the North behind only Guyana in terms of suicide prevalence.

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