Suicides are surging this year among Japan's increasingly active military ranks and have hit a record pace that outstrips the national rate, the Defense Agency said Thursday.

In the first four months of this fiscal year, which began in April, 31 members of the Self-Defense Forces killed themselves, an official for the Defense Agency said on condition of anonymity.

If the trend continues, the military would suffer 93 suicides for the year, with an annual rate of 39 suicides per 100,000 soldiers -- far above the rate of 27 suicides per 100,000 reported in fiscal 2003 in the general population.