Tokyo, July 25 (PTI): Japan aims to cut suicides by 30 per cent over 10 years, with the government today approving a plan which seeks to curb extreme work hours seen as contributing to one of the world’s highest suicide rates.
Japan has the highest suicide rate among Group of Seven (G7) advanced countries and the government describes the situation as “critical” in a country where more than 20,000 people kill themselves every year. The suicide rate – the ratio per 100,000 people – was 18.5 in 2015 and the government wants to reduce it below 13.0 in 2025.
The plan, approved at a cabinet meeting yesterday, is reviewed every five years. The first one came in 2007.
It states that the government will push further for measures against work-related suicides, saying that cutting extreme work hours and preventing harassment by bosses are necessary.Tokyo is ramping up efforts to tackle deaths from overwork following the suicide of a young employee at Japan’s biggest advertising agency Dentsu, who regularly logged more than 100 hours of overtime a month. The labour ministry in May released its first nationwide employer blacklist, naming-and-shaming more than 300 companies including Dentsu, for illegal overtime and other workplace violations.
