People run a suicide prevention campaign in Jung District, Seoul, Sept. 12, 2023. Korea Times photo by Kim Ye-won

Korea's suicide rate inched down in 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic, though it remained at the highest level among major advanced nations, data showed Thursday.

A total of 12,906 people took their own lives in 2022, and the number of suicides per every 100,000 Koreans came to 25.2, down from the previous year's 26, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The rate had risen from 13.7 in 2000 to 24.8 in 2005 and 31.7 in 2011 before falling moderately to come below 25 in 2017.

The figure then had grown from 2018-2021, except for 2020, according to the agency.

Based on the 2020 data, Korea had the highest suicide rate among member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with 24.1 out of every 100,000 people.

Lithuania came next with 18.5 and Slovenia with 15.7, followed by Japan with 15.4 and Belgium with 14.8, according to the OECD data.

"Suicide closely links to individuals' quality of life. The suicide rate tends to increase in accordance with drastic social changes or instability so it represents structural features of a society and social unity," the agency said in its annual report on indicators of the people' quality of life.

By gender, the suicide rate among men more than doubled than that among female citizens, with 35.3 out of every 100,000 men taking their own lives in 2022.

The country also saw a higher suicide rate among those in their 70s and older, as the figure among people in their 70s came to 37.8 and that for those in their 80s stood at 60.6 in 2022.

The rate among males aged 70 and above came to a whopping 78.8, and the comparable figure for women in the same age group came to 23.1.

The report also showed that Korea's life expectancy fell for the first time since 1970 in 2022 due to COVID-19 to come to 82.7 years.

Women were expected to live 85.6 years on average, compared with 79.9 years for their male counterparts.

The country had reported a constant rise in the life expectancy from 62.3 years in 1970 to 76 years in 2000, 80.2 years in 2010 and 83.5 years in 2020.

Some 21.1 percent of Koreans aged 65 and above lived alone in 2023, up from 20.9 percent a year ago.

Amid rapid population aging, the number of senior citizens jumped 2.8 times from 2000 to 2023, and the number of those who lived alone surged 3.7 times, the data showed.

In terms of employment and income, the country's employment rate in 2023 hit the highest level of 62.2 percent since 2000, though the proportion of low-paid workers rose to 16.9 percent in 2022 from the previous year's 15.6 percent.

The incidence of low pay refers to the share of workers earning less than two-thirds of median earnings.

The net household assets marked an on-year fall after a yearslong upturn.

The net assets per household came to 390 million won ($293,083) in 2023, down 7.89 percent on-year due mainly to the property market slump. (Yonhap)