While the suicide rate in South Korea stands at the highest in the world, the number of suicide deaths during the first five months of this year jumped around ten percent compared to a year ago.

That's according to the latest data announced at a government-civilian discussion on policies on respect for life involving the religious community, businesses, labor groups and media organizations on Tuesday.

According to the health ministry, there were six-thousand-375 suicide deaths between January and May this year, up ten-point-one percent on-year. The provisional tally of suicide deaths in 2023 stood at 13-thousand-770, up six-point-seven percent from the previous year.

The government assessed that the rise in suicide deaths was both directly and indirectly affected by post-pandemic social isolation, financial difficulty, depression and anxiety.

The nation's suicide rate is the highest among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD), reaching 24-point-one deaths per 100-thousand people in 2020, compared to the OECD average of ten-point-seven. It is the only OECD member state for the figure to exceed 20.