Females outnumbered males among suicides under 20 in Japan last year for the first time on record, reflecting a worsening state of mental health among adolescent girls, a research team said.
The researchers, citing statistics from the health ministry, said 430 females under 20 killed themselves in 2024, compared with 370 males in the same age group.
The suicide numbers 10 years earlier were 165 females and 373 males, the group said.
Adolescent female suicides have surged over the past five years while the number for males has largely remained unchanged over a decade.
The researchers are from the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo, and elsewhere.
The health ministry and the National Police Agency have also kept records on suicides by students at elementary, junior high and senior high schools.
Their data also showed the number of suicides has risen in recent years, particularly among schoolgirls.
The research team said mental health problems in adolescents, especially girls, have worsened around the globe.
An international study on 43 countries showed the gender gap concerning mental health issues has widened particularly in nations that promote gender equality, they said.
In these countries, girls face the double pressure of falling in line with traditional gender norms and being successful academically and socially, studies have shown.
The researchers said various other factors may also be at work, such as the negative impact from social media and other internet resources, sexual exploitation both in person and online, an excessive desire to be slim, and the earlier arrival of puberty.
The group’s study was recently published in Nature Human Behavior, a science journal.
“These suicide statistics have proved that mental health is worsening particularly among adolescent girls in Japan, as is the case around the globe,” said Zui Narita, one of the authors of the paper.
Narita, who heads the NCNP Section of Mental Function Research, added: “The entire society should know about the serious nature of the current state. There is also a need to listen to the voices of the target audience and quickly take experience-based measures to address the problem.”