About Suicide

Suicide impacts entire communities. Each person who dies by suicide leaves behind loved ones, along with the impact of suicide and the bereavement that follows. Suicidal thoughts and attempts have many significant impacts on individuals and those around them.

Suicide Statistics and Data

Below are data about suicide, suicide attempts, and suicidal thoughts in the United States:

• In 2022, suicide was one of the nine leading causes of death in the US.
• In 2022, the overall number of deaths by suicide in the US was over 49,000.
• Suicides outnumbered homicides in the US from 2011–⁠2020.
• In 2022, 13.2 million people reported seriously considering suicide.
• In 2022, 1.6 million reported a suicide attempt.
• In 2022, suicide rates ranged from 2.4 per 100,000 among youth ages 10–14 years to 23.0 per 100,000 among people 85 years and older.

Risk and Protective Factors

Risk and protective factors affect an individual's chances of positive or negative outcomes, such as suicide. These factors occur at multiple levels of influence—such as the individual, relationship, community, and greater societal levels.

Listed below are the effective suicide prevention interventions needed to address these factors at all levels:

• Individual-level risks include untreated mental illness and substance misuse, while protective factors for suicide at this level include problem-solving and coping skills, positive self-esteem, and a sense of purpose in life.
• Relationship-level risks include family conflict, knowing someone who died by suicide (particularly a family members), and social isolation; protective factors include family connectedness and supportive friendships.
• Community-level risks involve community violence, historical trauma, and access to lethal means; and protective factors include access to behavioral health services, community or cultural beliefs that discourage suicide, and connectedness to community and social institutions.
• Societal-level risks include stigma, racism, and discrimination, while examples of protective factors include cultural identification and policies such as anti-discrimination laws.