Suicide in the United States
Updated: Wikipedia source
Suicide is a major national public health issue in the United States. The country has one of the highest suicide rates among wealthy nations. In 2020, there were 45,799 recorded suicides, up from 42,773 in 2014, according to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). On average, adjusted for age, the annual U.S. suicide rate increased 30% between 2000 and 2020, from 10.4 to 13.5 suicides per 100,000 people. From 2000 to 2020, more than 800,000 people died by suicide in the United States. Males represented 78.7% of all suicides between 2000 and 2020. In 2022, a record high 49,500 people died by suicide. The 2022 rate was the highest level since 1941, at 14.3 per 100,000 persons. This rate was surpassed in 2023, when it increased to over 14.7 per 100,000 persons. In 2022, the male suicide rate was approximately four times that of females. The U.S. government seeks to prevent suicides through its National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, a collaborative effort of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Indian Health Service. Their plan consists of eleven goals aimed at preventing suicides. Older adults are disproportionately likely to die by suicide. Some U.S. jurisdictions have laws against suicide or against assisting suicide. In recent years, there has been increased interest in rethinking these laws. Suicide has been associated with tough economic conditions, including unemployment rate. There are significant variations in the suicide rates of the different states, ranging from 28.89 per 100,000 people in Montana to 8.11 per 100,000 people in New York. In July 2022, the United States transitioned the National Suicide Hotline from the former 10-digit number into the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, linking both the National Suicide Hotline, the Veterans Crisis Line, and a network of more than 200 state and local call centers run through SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In 2022, White males had accounted for 68.46% of suicide deaths in the United States.