Government Uses Data to Identify Suicide Risk Factors with AI Analysis

The government plans to integrate administrative data from various agencies, including welfare, health, and medical sectors, to comprehensively analyze suicide risk factors. A system utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) will be established to classify complex suicide risk factors such as economic hardship, social isolation, and mental health issues.

Kim Young-soo, the First Deputy Chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, announced this data-driven suicide prevention policy during the first regular briefing on suicide prevention held at the Government Seoul Building on October 30.

Initially, the government will link administrative data from relevant agencies with the national death cause statistics from the National Data Agency. By analyzing the characteristics of suicide victims and comparison groups, the government aims to identify factors associated with suicide risk and examine how multiple risks accumulate over time.

The government explained that information necessary for suicide prevention has been dispersed across various agencies, limiting comprehensive analysis of risk factors and their connection to actual support policies.

"Suicide risk can increase as multiple difficulties, such as unemployment, debt, illness, and social isolation, interact and accumulate," Kim said. "It is crucial to accurately understand why suicide risk arises and how it intensifies over time."

The government will also strengthen local governments' data utilization systems to detect regional risk signals early. Local governments will have broader access to statistics related to suicide deaths and improved notification functions when significant changes, such as an increase in suicide deaths, occur.

Kim emphasized, "Suicide patterns may vary depending on the demographic structure and socio-economic conditions of each region. It is important to analyze regional trends closely and connect the results to prevention policies tailored to local circumstances."

The effectiveness of psychological autopsies for vulnerable groups, including children and adolescents, will also be enhanced. The government has amended the Suicide Prevention Act to allow requests for necessary data from relevant agencies, such as the Ministry of Education, education offices, and schools, during the psychological autopsy process for suicide victims under 19. The police's method of investigating suicide motives will also be revised, as the current approach focuses on a single primary motive, making it difficult to fully understand the characteristics of suicides influenced by multiple factors.

The government plans to collaborate with the National Data Agency and the National Police Agency to refine and standardize the existing classification system for suicide motives. A classification system for risk factors will be established, including family relationships, education, employment, economic difficulties, social isolation, mental health, and illness.

Additionally, a system will be developed to classify complex risk factors by comprehensively analyzing incident summaries and administrative data using AI.

Meanwhile, the recent suicide death statistics indicate a continuing decline. As of August this year, the provisional count of suicide deaths was 1,078, a decrease of 97 (8.3%) compared to the same month last year. This marks the 11th consecutive month of decline compared to the same month of the previous year since October of last year.

From January to August this year, the cumulative number of suicide deaths also decreased by 1,117 (11.6%) compared to the same period last year. However, the government noted that monthly statistics are provisional and that it is difficult to definitively attribute the short-term decline to specific policy effects.

Kim stated, "The ultimate goal of linking data is to connect people. We will strengthen the suicide prevention system to ensure that those in need are identified in a timely manner and receive the necessary support."