Facts About Suicide

• Suicide is the 11^th leading cause of death for adults in the United States.
• 49,476 individuals died by suicide in 2022, which is about one death every 11 minutes.
• 2 million adults seriously thought about suicide in 2022, with 3.8 million planning a suicide attempt and 1.6 million attempting suicide.
• Suicide is the 2^nd leading cause of death for youth ages 10-14

• Suicide is defined as death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with intent to die as a result of the behavior.
• A suicide attempt is a non-fatal, self-directed, potentially injurious behavior with the intent to die as a result of the behavior. A suicide attempt might not result in injury.
• Suicidal ideation refers to thinking about, considering, or planning suicide.
• Many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship disputes, or chronic pain and illness.
• Suicide rates are high among vulnerable groups who experience discrimination, such as refugees and migrants; indigenous peoples; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) persons; and prisoners.
• Suicide is preventable. Most suicidal individuals desperately want to live; they are just unable to see alternatives to their problems.
• Talking about suicide does not cause someone to be suicidal.
• Suicide occurs across all ages, economic, social, racial and ethnic boundaries.
• Surviving family members not only suffer the trauma of losing a loved one to suicide, but they may also themselves be at higher risk for suicide and emotional problems.
• Suicide prevention efforts require coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, labor, agriculture, business, justice, law, defense, politics and the media. These efforts must be comprehensive and integrated given the multifaceted nature of suicide.

https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html

https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide

https://wmich.edu/suicideprevention/basics/facts