Quick Facts About Suicide

Suicide is a major, public health problem
More than 31,000 Americans die by suicide each year.
There is 1 suicide every 16 minutes and 88 suicides per day.

Suicide is the:
- 11th leading cause of death overall in America; 1 - 3rd leading cause of death for young
Americans between the ages of 10-24; and
- 2nd leading cause of death for American college-aged students.

There are an estimated 1.4 million attempts per year in the U.S.
For every suicide death there are an estimated six new survivors.
Suicide is an often ignored and stigmatized topic
Suicide deaths consistently outnumber homicide deaths by a margin of three to two.
There are more suicides globally than deaths from war and violence combined.
Approximately twice as many Americans die by suicides than from HIV/AIDS.

Suicides can be prevented
More than 90 percent of people who die by suicide have depression or her diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder.
In a national poll, 78 percent of Americans think that many suicides are preventable with appropriate research, interventions and services,
And 86% of Americans surveyed think it is important to invest in the prevention of suicide.
Risk and protective factors can vary according to age, gender, ethnic group, or occupation, and can vary over time. Some examples, are:
20% of all suicide deaths occur among veterans.
More women attempt suicide, more men die by suicide.
80% of completed suicides are men.
Elderly comprise 12.6% of the population yet account for 16% of suicides.1
Older white men have the highest suicide rate of all age groups.
According to several nationally representative studies, in any given year, about 5% to 7% of adults have a serious mental illness. A similar percentage of children (about 5% to 9%) have a serious emotional disturbance.
These figures mean that millions of adults and children are disabled by mental illnesses every year.
In addition to the tragedy of lost lives, mental illnesses come with a devastatingly high financial cost. In the U.S., the annual economic, indirect cost of mental illnesses is estimated to be $79 billion ($63 billion in lost productivity, $12 billion in mortality costs, and $4 billion in productivity losses for incarcerated individuals and for the time of those who provide family care).