Since the 1950s, the suicide rate in the United States has been significantly higher among men than women. In 2022, the suicide rate among men was almost four times higher than that of women. However, the rate of suicide for both men and women has increased gradually over the past couple of decades. Facts on suicide in the United States In 2022, the rate of suicide death in the United States was around 14 per 100,000 population. The suicide rate in the U.S. has generally increased since the year 2000, with the highest rates ever recorded in the years 2018 and 2022. In the United States, death rates from suicide are highest among those aged 45 to 64 years and lowest among younger adults aged 15 to 24. The states with the highest rates of suicide are Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming, while New Jersey and Massachusetts have the lowest rates. Suicide among men In 2023, around 4.5 percent of men in the United States reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Although this rate is lower than that of women, men still have a higher rate of suicide death than women. One reason for this may have to do with the method of suicide. Although firearms account for the largest share of suicide deaths among both men and women, firearms account for almost 60 percent of all suicides among men and just 35 percent among women. Suffocation and poisoning are the other most common methods of suicide among women, with the chances of surviving a suicide attempt from these methods being much higher than surviving an attempt by firearm. The age group with the highest rate of suicide death among men is by far those aged 75 years and over.

According to the latest available data, there were around 14.2 suicide deaths per 100,000 population in the United States in 2022. Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. highlighting the need for awareness and prevention. The suicide rate in the U.S. has risen for both men and women in recent years but remains over three times higher for men. Hospitalizations In 2021, there were around 517,000 adults hospitalized in the U.S. after a suicide attempt. Although the suicide rate among men is significantly higher than among women, there are more hospitalizations after suicide attempts for women than for men. In 2019, there were 288,000 such hospitalizations among women and 238,000 hospitalizations among men. Public opinionSuicide can be a divisive topic that involves religious and political views. Recent data shows that 72 percent of the U.S. population believes suicide is morally wrong, while 22 percent believe it to be morally acceptable. However, only 32 percent of adults believe it is “very important” to invest public dollars in the prevention of suicide.

The suicide rate among females in the United States is highest for those aged 45 to 64 years and lowest among girls aged 10 to 14 and elderly women 75 and over. Although the suicide rate among women remains over three times lower than that of men, rates of suicide among women have gradually increased over the past couple decades. Suicide among women in the United States In 2021, there were around six suicide deaths per 100,000 women in the United States. In comparison, the rate of suicide among women in the year 2000 was about four per 100,000. Suicide rates among women are by far the highest among American Indians or Alaska Natives and lowest among Hispanic and Black or African American women. Although firearms are involved in the highest share of suicide deaths among both men and women, they account for a much smaller share among women. In 2020, the firearm suicide rate among women was 1.8 per 100,000 population, while the rates of suicide for suffocation and poisoning were 1.7 and 1.5 per 100,000, respectively. Suicidal ideation among women Although not everyone who experiences suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, will attempt suicide, suicidal thoughts are a risk factor for suicide. In 2022, just over five percent of women in the United States reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Suicidal thoughts are more common among women than men even though men have much higher rates of death from suicide than women. This is because men are more likely to use more lethal methods of suicide such as firearms. Women who suffer from substance use disorder are significantly more likely to have serious thoughts of suicide than women without substance use disorder.

Among men in the United States, those aged 75 years and older have the highest death rate from suicide among all age groups. In 2022, the suicide death rate among men aged 75 years and older was 43.9 per 100,000 population. In comparison, the death rate from suicide among men aged 25 to 44 years was 29.6 per 100,000. Suicide is a significant problem in the United States, with rates increasing over the past decade. Suicide among men In the United States, the suicide rate among men is almost four times higher than that of women. In 2022, the rate of suicide among U.S. men was 23 per 100,000 population, the highest rate recorded over the past 70 years. Firearms account for the vast majority of suicide deaths among men, accounting for around 60 percent of male suicides in 2021. The reasons why U.S. men have higher rates of suicide than women are complex and not fully understood, but may have to do with the more violent means by which men carry out suicide and the stigma around seeking help for mental health issues. Suicide among women Although the suicide rate among women in the U.S. is significantly lower than that of men, the rate of suicide among women has increased over the past couple of decades. Among women, those aged 45 to 64 years have the highest death rates due to suicide, followed by women 25 to 44 years old. Interestingly, the share of women reporting serious thoughts of suicide in the past year is higher than that of men, with around 5.5 percent of U.S. women reporting such thoughts in 2023. Similarly to men, firearms account for most suicide deaths among women, however suffocation and poisoning account for a significant share of suicides among women. In 2021, around 35 percent of suicides among women were carried out by firearms, while suffocation and poisoning each accounted for around 28 percent of suicide deaths.

Data on death rates for suicide, by selected population characteristics. Please refer to the PDF or Excel version of this table in the HUS 2019 Data Finder (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/contents2019.htm) for critical information about measures, definitions, and changes over time.

SOURCE: NCHS, National Vital Statistics System (NVSS); Grove RD, Hetzel AM. Vital statistics rates in the United States, 1940–1960. National Center for Health Statistics. 1968; numerator data from NVSS annual public-use Mortality Files; denominator data from U.S. Census Bureau national population estimates; and Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD, Arias E, Tejada-Vera B. Deaths: Final data for 2018. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 69 no 13. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2021. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/nvsr.htm. For more information on the National Vital Statistics System, see the corresponding Appendix entry at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus19-appendix-508.pdf.

As of 2022, the U.S. states with the highest death rates from suicide were Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming. In Wyoming and Montana, there were around 29 and 28 suicide deaths per 100,000 population, respectively. In comparison, in New Jersey, the state with the lowest suicide death rate, there were only around eight suicide deaths per 100,000 population. Differences in suicide rates by gender In the United States, there is a vast difference in suicide rates between men and women, with rates over 3.5 times higher among men. However, rates of suicide for both men and women have increased over the past couple of decades. Among men, those aged 75 years and older have the highest suicide rates, with around 42 deaths per 100,000 population in 2021. Among women, those aged 45 to 64 years have the highest rates of suicide death with 8.2 deaths per 100,000 population. What is the most common method of suicide? In the United States, the most common method of suicide is with firearms, followed by suffocation and then poisoning. In 2022, there were around 27,032 suicide deaths from firearms in the United States, compared to 12,247 deaths from suffocation and 4,894 from drug poisoning. In 2021, firearms accounted for around 60 percent of suicide deaths among men. In comparison, around 35 percent of deaths from suicide among women were due to firearms, while suffocation and poisoning each accounted for 28 percent of such deaths.

Montana was the state with the highest rate of suicidal death among adolescents in the U.S. in 2022, with around 39 deaths per 100,000 adolescents. The overall suicide rate in the U.S. has increased over recent years. Suicide is more common among men than women with rates among men over three times higher than among women. Risk factors Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder, and personality disorders, as well as substance abuse. In fact, suicidal thoughts, plans to commit suicide, and suicide attempts are all more common among those with drug or alcohol dependence or abuse. In terms of suicides due to a known mental disorder, depression accounts for around 72 percent of all such suicides. Methods Most suicides in the United States are carried out by firearms, however, the most common method of suicide differs from country to country. In 2022, over 27,000 suicides in the United States were conducted by firearms, or just over half of all suicides that year. Firearms are the most common means of suicide among both men and women in the United States, but suicide by poisoning is much more common among women than men.

This dataset is about countries in the Americas per year, featuring 3 columns: country, date, and suicide mortality rate. The preview is ordered by date (descending).

This report provides information regarding suicide mortality for the years 2001–2014. It incorporates the most recent mortality data from the VA/Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Suicide Data Repository and includes information for deaths from suicide among all known Veterans of U.S. military service. Data for the Joint VA/DoD Suicide Data Repository were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics’ National Death Index through collaboration with the DoD, the CDC, and the VA/DoD Joint Suicide Data Repository initiative. Data available from the National Death Index include reports of mortality submitted from vital statistics systems in all 50 U.S. states, New York City, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In 2021, there were around 42.2 deaths from suicide per 100,000 population among males in the U.S. aged 75 years and older. Males aged 75 years and older were more likely to die from suicide than any other age group for both males and females. The suicide death rate for males in general is constantly greater than that for females. Suicide method by gender Not only do suicide rates differ by gender, but the method of suicide varies as well. Suicide by firearm accounts for 56 percent of suicides among males, but only 31 percent of those among females. However, suicide by poisoning accounts for a much larger share of suicides among females than males. In 2019, there were a total of 23,941 firearm suicides and 6,125 poisoning suicides. Substance abuse, mental health, and suicide Those who suffer from substance abuse and certain mental health disorders are at a much greater risk of falling victim to suicide. It’s been found that around 14 percent of those with drug or alcohol dependence or abuse had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, compared to just three percent of those with no such substance dependence of abuse. Similarly, around 3.6 percent of those with a major depressive episode in the past year had attempted suicide, while only 0.2 percent of those without a major depressive episode had done so.

Forecast: Suicide Mortality Rate in the US 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

This bar chart displays suicide mortality rate (per 100,000 population) by region using the aggregation average, weighted by population and is filtered where the continent is the Americas. The data is about countries per year.

This scatter chart displays urban land area (km²) against suicide mortality rate (per 100,000 population) and is filtered where the region is Central America. The data is about countries per year.

This study was initiated by the administrator of a county jail in the Northern Plains of the United States who was concerned about the incidence of suicide behaviors in that facility, particularly among the American Indian population. It was a two-year project designed to evaluate the existing admissions suicide screening tool and to improve the instrument's cultural relevance for the American Indian population. The existing screening instrument used in the county jail to interview inmates at their intake was developed in New York. The main objective of the first year of the project was to determine if that instrument was culturally appropriate for the jailed American Indian population. The principal objective of the second year of the project was to determine whether the employment of different suicide screening protocols would make a difference in the responses of new detainees with regard to the likelihood of securing their honest reports of experiencing suicide ideation and its associated risk factors. For the duration of the project, all male and female inmates aged 18 and older who were booked into the jail went through the customary booking procedure that included the administration of the New York Suicide Prevention Screening Guidelines. In the first year of the project, researchers also administered a short self-report survey consisting of measures commonly associated with suicidal ideation. The self-report survey measured stress, anxiety, suicide ideation, hopelessness, and suicidal behavior history. The protocols in the second year of the project reflected efforts to test different screening conditions for four experimental groups and one control group of new detainees. The outcome variables of the short self-report survey consisted of measures of demographics, comfort experience during booking and the screening process, self-efficacy and management of depression, knowledge of mental health support available within the jail, and general well-being. In addition to the quantitative data collection, qualitative data were also collected to develop a straightforward assessment of suicide ideation criteria in this specific jail setting using semi-structured focus group interviews.

In 2020, about 24,292 people died committing suicide with a firearm in the United States. This is an increase from 1990 when there were 18,885 firearm related suicide deaths. Firearm suicides reached a low in the year 2000 when there were 16,586 deaths.

This horizontal bar chart displays suicide mortality rate (per 100,000 population) by demonym and is filtered where the region is South America. The data is about countries per year.

In 2022, just over half of all suicides in the U.S. were conducted by the use of firearms. That year, there were 27,032 suicide deaths involving firearms. This statistic shows the number of deaths from suicide in the United States during 2022, sorted by method of suicide.

South Korea currently has the highest overall suicide rate among OECD countries worldwide. The suicide rate among women in South Korea is significantly higher than that of women in any other country. Nevertheless, suicide is commonly more prevalent among men than women. Suicide in the U.S. The suicide rate in the United States has risen since the year 2000. As of 2021, there were around 14.1 deaths from suicide per 100,000 population. The suicide rate among men in the U.S. is over three times what it is for females, a considerable and troubling difference. The suicide rate among men increases with age, with the highest rates found among men aged 75 years and older. Adolescent suicide Adolescent suicide is always a serious and difficult topic. A recent survey found that around 30 percent of female high school students in the United States had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, compared to 14 percent of male students. On average, there are around 11 suicide deaths among adolescents per 100,000 population in the United States. The states with the highest rates of adolescent suicide include Idaho, Colorado, and Utah.

This statistic shows the death rate for suicide in the United States in 2018 and 2019, by age. In 2019, there were 19.5 deaths by suicide per 100,000 U.S. Americans aged between 45 and 64 years. The death rate for suicide in the U.S. for males has remained higher than that of females since the 1950s.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Characteristics of the data sources.