A century of suicide in Japan

By William Wetherall

Table 3

Crude and adjusted suicide rates
Males, 65+ age group, Japan, 1900-1990

Percent Percent Crude Rate Rate % drop % drop
Aged 65+ Total Aged 65+ Total aged 65+ aged 65+ suicide adjusted adjusted crude adj 1985
Year population population suicides suicides population suicides rate to 1985 to 1935 adj 1935 adj 1935 Year
a b c d e f g h i j k
100a/b 100c/d 100,000c/a 100(g-i)/g 100(h-i)/h
n 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 4 n 5 n 5
1900 1,059,187 22,051,000 540 3,716 4.8 14.5 51.0 51.8 51.0 -0.1 1.4 1900
1905 1,101,566 23,421,000 916 5,020 4.7 18.2 83.2 85.6 83.2 0.0 2.8 1905
1910 1,214,813 24,650,000 960 5,928 4.9 16.2 79.0 81.0 80.3 -1.6 0.8 1910
1915 1,366,449 26,465,000 1,178 6,503 5.2 18.1 86.2 87.7 87.9 -1.9 -0.2 1915
1920 1,302,441 28,044,185 1,135 6,521 4.6 17.4 87.1 91.5 88.6 -1.6 3.2 1920
1925 1,319,304 30,013,109 1,254 7,521 4.4 16.7 95.1 102.1 97.0 -2.1 5.0 1925
1930 1,318,748 32,390,155 1,396 8,810 4.1 15.9 105.9 110.0 106.5 -0.6 3.2 1930
1935 1,374,319 34,734,133 1,346 8,733 4.0 15.4 97.9 103.7 99.3 -1.4 4.2 1935
1940 1,461,200 35,387,400 1,127 5,841 4.1 19.3 77.1 83.4 79.4 -2.9 4.8 1940
1945 1,563,000 33,894,100 4.6 1945
1950 1,728,246 40,811,760 1,740 9,820 4.2 17.7 100.7 108.9 103.2 -2.5 5.3 1950
1955 2,027,764 43,860,718 1,732 13,836 4.6 12.5 85.4 92.0 87.0 -1.9 5.4 1955
1960 2,322,862 45,877,602 1,661 11,506 5.1 14.4 71.5 74.6 72.1 -0.8 3.4 1960
1965 2,720,533 48,244,445 1,719 8,330 5.6 20.6 63.2 67.8 64.2 -1.6 5.3 1965
1970 3,212,180 50,600,539 1,897 8,761 6.3 21.7 59.1 64.2 59.6 -1.0 7.0 1970
1975 3,823,030 54,724,867 2,194 11,744 7.0 18.7 57.4 62.0 57.1 0.5 8.0 1975
1980 4,480,736 57,201,287 2,291 12,769 7.8 17.9 51.1 54.2 49.5 3.2 8.7 1980
1985 5,076,521 59,105,872 2,727 15,356 8.6 17.8 53.7 54.8 50.7 5.6 7.4 1985
1990 5,952,322 60,265,347 2,766 12,293 9.9 22.5 46.5 47.0 43.3 6.8 7.7 1990

Notes

  1. 1990 figures are preliminary counts. For all annual figures from 1899, see Table 7 in Wetherall, "Misreporting" (note 3).
  2. Blue populations interpolated, other populations computed, from tables compiled by author using Bureau of Statistics data.
  3. Total populations from Ministry of Health and Welfare, as provided by Bureau of Statistics for use with vital statistics.
  4. Red suicide counts interpolated by author from purple crude rates. Other suicide counts from MHW data. All rates computed by author.
  5. Adjusted rates computed by author, for maximum available number of age groups each year, to 1985 and 1935 total populations.