Suicide rates have reached a near record high in recent years, according to data updated Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“From 2001 through 2021, suicide rates increased most years for males and females,” said the CDC, and 2021 marked the largest one-year increase in rates.
This data from the National Vital Statistics System includes suicide rates from 2001 through 2021. It shows that rates increased from 10.7 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2001 to 14.1 per 100,000 in 2021.
Rates increased from 2001 to 2018, when they peaked at 14.2 per 100,000. After the age-adjusted suicide rate declined for two years, it started increasing again in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic began.
In particular, suicide rates for men increased during 2020 and 2021 for men in the following age ranges: 15 to 24, 25 to 44, 65 to 74, and 75 and over. Rates also “increased significantly” for non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White women, as well as non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, and White males.
For men, suicide rates remained relatively stable around 18 per 100,000 from 2001 to 2006 and then jumped to 22.8 when rates peaked in 2018.
Following a decline, these rates also increased by 4% in 2021.
“The suicide rate for males was three to four and one-half times the rate for females during the 2001–2021 period,” the CDC said.
For women, suicide rates increased from around four per 100,000 in 2001 to six per 100,000 in 2015. Rates for women also increased by 4% in 2021.
“In 2021, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death in the United States, changing from the 10th leading cause in 2019 and the 12th leading cause in 2020,” the CDC added.
The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours, seven days a week at 988.
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