More middle than high school students in Korea experience feelings of depression: data

The proportion of Korean middle school students who have experienced feelings of depression exceeded that of high school students for the third consecutive year in 2025, data showed Sunday.

The share of middle school students who said they felt depressed was 26.2 percent last year, compared with 25.1 percent for high school students, according to the data by the Korean Educational Development Institute.

In the study, "feelings of depression" were defined as experiencing sadness or despair severe enough to suspend daily routines for two consecutive weeks over the past year.

In 2024, the proportion of such middle school students came to 27.9 percent, higher than the 27.5 percent recorded for high school students. In 2023, the share of middle school students experiencing feelings of depression was 26.3 percent, compared with 25.6 percent for high school students.

In the January-June period of this year, a total of 112 elementary, middle and high school students died by suicide. Of them, 43, or 38.4 percent, were middle school students, according to data by the education ministry.

Last year, a total of 244 students took their own lives, and 92 of them were middle school students.