Depression Rate Among Korean Middle School Students Exceeds High School Rate for Third Year
New education data show that 26.2 percent of Korean middle school students experienced prolonged sadness or despair in 2025, exceeding the rate among high school students for a third consecutive year.
The share of Korean middle school students reporting sustained feelings of depression remained higher than the rate among high school students for a third consecutive year, according to education data released Sunday.
Figures from the Korean Educational Development Institute showed that 26.2 percent of middle school students experienced feelings of depression in 2025. The comparable figure for high school students was 25.1 percent, leaving a gap of 1.1 percentage points between the two groups.
For the study, feelings of depression were defined as sadness or despair severe enough to interrupt normal daily routines for two consecutive weeks during the preceding year. The measure therefore reflects more than temporary low mood and focuses on experiences that had a sustained effect on students' everyday lives.
The latest results extend a pattern that began in 2023. That year, the rate was 26.3 percent among middle school students and 25.6 percent among high school students. In 2024, the respective figures rose to 27.9 percent and 27.5 percent. Both rates declined in 2025, but the middle school figure remained higher.
The three-year comparison shows that the gap has persisted even as the overall percentages changed. It was 0.7 percentage point in 2023, narrowed to 0.4 point in 2024 and widened to 1.1 points in 2025. The data do not by themselves establish why middle school students have reported higher rates.
Separate Ministry of Education figures also highlighted the severity of student mental-health risks. During the first six months of 2026, 112 elementary, middle and high school students died by suicide. Middle school students accounted for 43 of those deaths, or 38.4 percent.
For all of 2025, 244 students died by suicide, including 92 middle school students. The figures cover deaths across the three school levels and do not establish a direct causal link with the survey measure of prolonged sadness or despair.
Taken together, the statistics place particular attention on the middle school years, when more than one in four respondents reported an extended period of severe sadness or hopelessness. They also provide a multi-year benchmark for educators and policymakers assessing how student well-being is changing across age groups.
The latest decline from 2024 offers one point of improvement, but the continuing level and the repeated middle school-high school gap show that the issue remains substantial. Future data will be needed to determine whether the 2025 decrease develops into a sustained trend.