Suicides, depression cost Japan 32 billion dollars: govt

TOKYO, Sept 7, 2010 (AFP) - Suicides and depression cost the Japanese economy almost 32 billion dollars last year on top of their human toll, the government said Tuesday, the first time it released such an estimate.

Welfare payments and medical costs for the depressed, the lost incomes of those in care and those who killed themselves, and other factors came to 2.68 trillion yen (31.8 billion dollars) last year, the government said.