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US Suicide Rates Declined But the Good News Ends There
The fine print shows rather familiar, ugly trends
The latest statistics on suicide numbers in the US were released by the CDC in the November 2021 report. The headline number is promising.
The provisional number of suicides in 2020 was lower than that in 2019 by 3%. While 3% is not a huge decline, that translates into 1,656 less deaths in 2020 vs. the total of 47,511 in 2020.
One thousand, six hundred and fifty-six less lives were lost to suicide — surely something to be proud of. Surprisingly, this came in the year that was pandemic hit and was widely seen as a year with spikes in mental health issues and depression.
Despite all the mental health challenges and concerns, if people were able to muster the courage to soldier on and not give up by killing themselves, that’s definitely a commendable achievement.
Suicide incidence in the US increased from 1999 to 2018 by 35% before seeing consecutive declines in 2019 and 2020. However, the underlying trends within the headline data are a cause of concern.
The youth saw a significant increase in suicides
The suicide rates for males in age groups 25–34 increased by 5% while for females in the…
