Here are the best estimates available for suicide rates per 100,000 people in South Korea and North Korea, plus some caveats on data quality.

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Estimates by country

Country	Approximate suicide rate per 100,000 population	Notes / Year
South Korea	~ 25.1-29.1 per 100,000	In recent years (2022-2024) as per Statistics Korea, e.g. 25.2 in 2022. Statista+3The Korea Times+3Xinhua News+3
North Korea	~ 9.4-10.0 per 100,000	Based on data up to 2019 from sources like WHO / countryeconomy / Macrotrends. countryeconomy.com+4TheGlobalEconomy.com+4Macrotrends+4

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Caveats & data quality

• The figure for South Korea is relatively trustworthy. South Korea has fairly good vital statistics, and the suicide data is empirical, regularly updated. The number ~25-29 per 100,000 is age-standardised (or near enough for comparison) in many reports. BioMed Central+3The Korea Times+3아시아경제+3

• The estimate for North Korea is much more uncertain. Challenges include:

  • Limited transparency and difficulties in independent verification.

  • Possible under-reporting or misclassification of causes of death.

  • Much of data comes from WHO or aggregate datasets that may rely on modelling rather than direct, current national records.

• Also, rates can differ depending on whether they are crude rates or age-standardised, and depending on year, gender, region, etc.

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Interpretation

Putting those numbers side by side:

• South Korea’s suicide rate is about 2.5 to 3 times higher than the estimate for North Korea, based on recent data.

• Given uncertainties in the North Korean data, it’s possible that the true rate is somewhat different (higher or lower), but most estimates put it well below South Korea’s.