Concerns over the working conditions of government officials and whether they have a clean record have been raised after it was revealed that a number of civil servants had committed suicide recently.

The latest death involves an official surnamed Dai from the discipline inspection commission in Sheyang county, Jiangsu Province, who jumped out of a hospital window Friday. A police investigation showed that Dai had suffered from depression and had no connection to corruption.

Two days earlier, Wang Congzhu, the head of Wanquan county, Hebei Province, hanged himself in his dormitory.

A government press release from Zhangjiakou, which has jurisdiction over Wanquan county, said Wang was suffering from work pressure. But Xinhuanet.com reported that the county is on a blacklist of the Ministry of Land and Resources for wrongly using land for real estate projects.

The report by people.com.cn, based on other media coverage, said at least eight officials had died of unnatural causes. Among them, only Huang He, director of the Wenzhou Development and Reform Commission, reportedly died from overwork.

The Chutian Metropolis Daily reported Monday that 13 government officials committed suicide last year. The officials involved range in rank from branch and mid-governmental level to bureau, provincial and even ministerial level.

Figures from the World Health Organization revealed that one million people committed suicide around the world last year, of whom 30 percent were from China.

Hu Xianzhi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said corruption, pressure for promotion and other work-related stress had driven the officials to suicide.

Ren Yuling, a member of the State Council, said that officials should bear in mind that they were serving the people. "If the officials could think more about the people instead of their personal interests, it would be easier for them to maintain a peaceful mindset," he said.