Suicide deaths in South Korea could shift toward older, never-married, tertiary-educated men

MedicalXpress | 七月 29, 2026

A new study involving Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), based on administrative data from South Korea, projects that as higher education and lifelong singlehood become more common, the composition of older-age suicide deaths may shift toward never-married men with tertiary education. This does not mean that tertiary-educated individuals face higher suicide risks: Their suicide rates remain lower than those of less educated groups. Rather, the projected shift is driven by population composition. As tertiary education becomes the norm among younger generations, the growing size of this group could lead to a higher absolute number of suicide deaths among tertiary-educated, never-married men.