Suicide for the Purpose of Gaining Insurance Payouts in Japan

Purpose: Studies on suicide for the purpose of gaining insurance payouts are rare globally; analyses of this phenomenon can help us understand it better and achieve more individualized care and support. Method: We used suicide data for the period from 2007 to 2015 from the “Summary Document Concerned with Suicide” released by the Japanese National Police Agency. We organized data on suicide committed to gain insurance payouts according to sex, age group, and year. We compared the sex ratio between these cases and the total cases of suicide using the Mann-Whitney U-test. We looked for correlations between this reason for suicide and other causes and factors in males. Results: Most people who committed suicide for the purpose of gaining insurance payouts were found to be in the 40s to 60s age group. The mean (SD) sex ratio (male/female) of these cases was 10.67 (2.36), significantly higher than the sex ratio for the total cases of suicide (2.31 (0.12)) (p < 0.001). The causes and factors that significantly correlated with suicide for insurance money from suicide were bankruptcy, business slump, multiple debts, debt because of consigner, other debts, and stress from debt collection. Conclusion: Males are at a greater risk for suicide for the purpose of gaining insurance payouts in Japan, and among them especially those in their 40s to 60s. The cause appears to be associated with debt. To develop more effective prevention measures for this kind of suicide, further studies are required.