背景介绍：

韩国虽然在许多方面都处于世界领先地位，比如最快的网速、领先的现代科技、优质的教育和医疗体系等等，但自杀率却一直居于世界前列。此外，不同于其他国家的是，韩国女性（尤其是年轻女性）的自杀率多年来一直呈上升趋势。

本文选自《经济学人》20201212期

Deepening despair

渐趋绝望

Suicide is on the rise among South Korean women

韩国女性自杀率呈上升趋势

As of december 10th, 564 South Koreans had died of covid-19. Roughly twice that number died by suicide every month between January and September, the latest month for which data are available. Half as many again made the attempt and were saved by the emergency services.

截至今年12月10日，韩国已有564人死于新冠肺炎。而自今年1月至9月（有数据可查的最近一个月），韩国每月死于自杀的人数大约是这个数字的两倍。另有一半的人多次尝试自杀，并最终被应急救援机构所救。

High as these numbers are, they are mercifully much lower than a decade ago, when the suicide rate began to decline sharply. Unfortunately, this happy trend has recently gone into reverse. The reversal is largely driven by women in their teens, 20s and 30s.

尽管自杀身亡的人很多，但相比十年前（当时自杀死亡率开始急剧下降）已经少得多了。不幸的是，这种走低的趋势最近又开始逆转了。而导致趋势逆转的人群主要是十几岁和二三十岁的女性。

Between 2018 and 2019 the number of women in their 20s dying by suicide rose by a quarter as the number of men of the same age killing themselves stayed more or less constant. Data from the first three-quarters of 2020 suggest the suicide rate among young women is rising still more. What is going on?

在2018年至2019年间，20多岁的女性自杀死亡的人数增加了四分之一，而同龄男性的自杀死亡人数基本保持不变。2020年前三个季度的数据表明，年轻女性的自杀率仍保持上升趋势。这究竟是怎么回事？

In most rich and middle-income countries suicide rates have been low and declining in recent years. Though South Korea had begun to follow that trend, its people are more likely to kill themselves than those of any other OECD country except Lithuania.

大多数富裕国家和中等收入国家的自杀率一直很低，并且近年来仍呈现下降趋势。虽然韩国的自杀率也呈现下降趋势，但在世界经合组织国家中，韩国是除立陶宛外自杀率最高的国家。

In 2019 there were 27 deaths from suicide for every 100,000 people, almost four times the number in Britain and nearly twice as many as in America. In other respects, however, South Korea follows global patterns: men and the elderly tend to be at higher risk of suicide than women and the young—making the increase in suicide among younger women all the more puzzling.

2019年，韩国每10万人中有27人死于自杀，几乎是英国的四倍或美国的两倍。然而在其他方面，韩国与世界其他国家也别无二致：男性和老年人的自杀风险往往高于女性和年轻人——这就使得韩国年轻女性自杀率的上升更令人费解了。

Sociologists tend to attribute the high overall rate to social and economic upheaval. They argue that rapid economic development combined with a clash between traditional social expectations and the individualism of modern life have plunged the country into the sort of confusion that Emile Durkheim, a 19th-century sociologist, called “anomie”, in which conflicting social signals drive people to despair.

社会学家倾向于将较高水平的总体自杀死亡率归因于社会和经济动荡。他们认为，经济的快速发展加上传统社会期望和现代生活中的个人主义之间的冲突，使韩国陷入了被19世纪社会学家埃米尔·涂尔干称之为“社会失范”的一种混乱状态中，在这种状态下，相互矛盾的社会信号使人们陷入绝望之中。

That sort of tension may be particularly acute for young women in contemporary South Korea, says Timothy Kang of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. Having been brought up in the same competitive academic environment as their male peers, they then encounter discrimination in the workplace, sexist standards of beauty and pressure to marry and have children.

加拿大萨斯喀彻温大学的蒂莫西·康说，这种紧张关系对当代韩国年轻女性的影响尤为严重。她们在与同龄男性同样竞争激烈的学术环境中长大，然后又要面对职场歧视、外貌标准上的性别歧视以及结婚生子的压力。

The government is taking the problem more seriously than in the past. In a meeting on suicide prevention at the end of November, officials vowed to expand support for those at risk, particularly young women in precarious circumstances. The national suicide hotline, which has been understaffed, is recruiting more sympathetic ears.

如今，韩国政府比过去更重视这一问题了。在今年11月底举行的一次有关预防自杀的会议上，官员们表示要进一步加强对自杀高风险人群（尤其是年轻女性）的帮助。全国自杀热线一直以来都面临人手不足的问题，如今也在招募更多富有同情心的接线员。

Public-information campaigns have tried to reduce the taboos around mental health in recent years, and the government has become a bit keener to combat sexism. All of this is welcome. But if rising suicide rates are indeed the result of rapid social change, a quick reprieve is unlikely.

近年来，公共信息运动一直在努力减少关于心理健康方面的禁忌，而政府也更热衷于与性别歧视作斗争。所有这些努力都值得称赞。但是，如果自杀率的上升确实因社会快速变革所致，那么想要迅速缓解是不太可能的。

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