The white paper, based on National Police Agency data, considers causes and motives for suicide as well as the job status of victims, classified by the number of suicides in each category.

The report marks the first time the conditions surrounding suicide, based on data from cities, wards, towns, villages and police stations, have been unveiled on a nationwide scale. Officials hope that the white paper will lead to suicide prevention measures by administrative bodies.

In compiling the white paper, a project team including scholars, lawyers and representatives of nonprofit organizations analyzed 97,032 suicides recorded between 2004 and 2006. They divided data held by each police station to correspond to local areas.

Members planned to present the white paper to Cabinet member Fumio Kishida, who is in charge of suicide-related issues, on Friday, and seek boosted measures to address the problem. The same day, the nonprofit organization Lifelink was due to release information on its Web site.

The paper found that the top motive for suicide among people who left suicide notes when they took their lives was financial or living problems. The next two reasons were suffering from illness and family problems.

By job status, the highest number of suicides occurred among the unemployed, followed by employed people, and then the self-employed.

By police station, Fujiyoshida Police Station in Yamanashi Prefecture handled the most suicides. Next was Sawara Police Station in Fukuoka Prefecture, and Aomori Police Station in Aomori Prefecture.

Toyota Police Station in Aichi Prefecture, which was placed sixth on the list of the number of suicides handled, recorded the highest number of suicides among employed people. Asahikawa Higashi Police Station in Hokkaido, which was 17th in the number of suicides handled, ranked first when it came to suicides due to suffering from illness.

By administrative district, Tokyo's Chiyoda-ku had the most suicides of employed men in their 40s, while Osaka's Nishi-ku recorded the highest number of suicides of self-employed men in their 40s. The city of Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, meanwhile, recorded the highest number of unemployed men in their 40s who took their lives.

Yasuyuki Shimizu, the representative of Lifelink, said he hoped the survey would lead to countermeasures against suicide.

"Officials from cities, towns and villages say that they are unable to take concrete measures against suicide because they don't know the actual conditions surrounding suicide. I want them to use this white paper in forming countermeasures."

Members compiling the survey examined 68 suicide risk factors. They found that on average victims were exposed to four risk factors; only 4 percent were found to have committed suicide due to one risk factor.

The most common risk factor was depression, followed by family discord, debt, physical ailments, hardships of life, relationships at work, changes in working environment, loss of job, poor business, and overwork. These 10 factors covered about 70 percent of all suicides.

The risk factors were often tied together. A company employee's job transfer, for example, could lead to overwork and trouble in relationships with others at work, which in turn could lead to depression. In the case of business executives, poor business would lead to lifestyle hardships, which would lead to multiple debts and then depression. There were also other linked factors where the causal relationship remained unclear, such as bullying and loss of job, and the death of family members and alcohol problems.

Mainichi