Japan sees 6-year high mental illness at workplaces

ISTANBUL

Japan saw 1,055 cases of mental illness related to work, an increase of 172 in fiscal 2024, marking a six-year record high, Kyodo News reported on Wednesday citing the Health Ministry.

Out of the total cases, 88 were related to suicides or suicide attempts during the fiscal year ending in March, marking an increase of nine from the previous year, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

The leading cause of mental health issues was physical and verbal abuse by supervisors, accounting for 224 cases. This was followed by major changes in job responsibilities or workload, which contributed to 119 cases.

Customer abuse, including both physical and verbal, ranked as the third most frequent cause, with 108 cases reported, 78 of which involved female workers.

"There are a certain number of workers who are under strong stress due to human relationships within their workplaces and to changes in the environment," a ministry official said as reported by Kyodo News.

By profession, the highest number of workers' compensation cases for mental health issues was among workers in social security and welfare, with a total of 270 cases.

Regarding age groups, 283 cases were reported among individuals in their 40s, 245 among those in their 30s, and 243 in 20s.

Japan also sees record whooping cough cases

Japan also saw a record high whooping cough -- contagious respiratory illness -- cases, exceeding 31,000 this year, a nearly eight-fold rise from last year, Kyodo News reported citing data by Japan's Institute for Health Security.

According to the data, a total of 31,966 cases have been documented across Japan since the beginning of the year, with 2,970 patients reported in the week ending June 15.

Weekly cases in the week before have surpassed 3,000 for the first time since 2018 when comparable data became available.

The total number of cases last year was around 4,000, while in 2019, the country recorded 16,845 cases.