Suicide for the Purpose of Gaining Insurance Payouts in Japan

Abstract

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.

Suicide and Life Insurance

“…In contrast, a retrospective evaluation of life insurance contracts held by 468 persons who died by suicide within the suicide exclusion period described in German policies found that only a few persons acquired their insurance for financial advantage for their relatives and concluded that the 3-year exclusion clause was "an effective barrier against misuse." 24 However, only a single study in the literature, published by Kodama et al, 25 has specifically examined these financial strains as motivational correlates of suicides for the purpose of gaining "insurance payouts," finding less than one half of 1% of suicides in Japan to be so motivated.…”

The Role of Societal Change toward Adolescent Suicide in Japan: Phenomenological Analysis on 12 Suicidal Teens Film by Yukihiko Tsutsumi

“…Insurance company regulations in Japan then stipulated that customers could take the policy after several years of signing the contract. In the early time insurance was introduced, Japanese people registered in droves, and after signing the contract, some of them committed suicide to immediately get a policy (Kodama, Fujimoto, Tamura, & Kataoka, 2017). Seeing that insurance policies are used, the family's financial condition also influences the child to commit suicide.…”