The number of people taking their own lives rose last year for the first time since 2009, Japan’s health ministry has said.
Although deaths among men fell slightly, those among women grew by more than 14% and more than 300 children took their own lives in the eight months to November.
"Suicides are the result of many different things, but I think one thing we can definitely say is that there was an impact from the coronavirus on economic and lifestyle factors," a ministry official is quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Women were said to have been affected worse by increasing unemployment and faced disproportionately more burdens at home, including child supervision.
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