The Japanese Prime Minister has appointed a “loneliness minister” to his office in response to a recent increase in suicides.
Like The Japan Times reported, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga created the function in early February, following the UK, which created its own function in 2018.
Tetsushi Sakamoto will take the role, the Times reported, while dealing with falling birth rates in the country and in regional economies.
Data from the National Police Agency show that 20,919 people committed suicide in 2020, an increase of 750 people over the previous year and the first consecutive increase in suicides in 11 years, the Times reported. According to the vehicle, the increase is more noticeable among women and young people.
Suga told the country’s budget committee earlier this month that people from all walks of life are vulnerable, the Times reported.
The newspaper noted that Japan is familiar with loneliness, as kodokushi, or “lonely deaths”, are common. They involve people dying inside their homes and remaining undiscovered for long periods of time.
Japan had the highest ranking in terms of people aged 60 and over who felt they had no one to turn to in times of need, with 16% of people saying so, compared to 13% in the US
The pandemic has worsened the feeling of isolation worldwide. In the United States, the Clark County school district in Nevada partially reopened schools in response to a wave of student suicides during the pandemic, with the number of student suicides doubling from the previous year.