New CDC data for 2022 finds U.S. rates of suicides rising after a slight decline during the pandemic Males face much higher risks for suicide than females, although suicide deaths have been rising for both sexes Firearms are the leading method used THURSDAY, Sept.
26, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. suicide rates are ticking back upward again after a dip during the pandemic, new statistics show.
Suicide deaths per 100,000 people had fallen from 14.2 recorded in the pre-pandemic year of 2018 to 13.5 in 2020.
However, by 2022, the latest year for which statistics are available, the rate had climbed once more to 14.2 deaths per every 100,000 Americans, report researchers from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This continues a tragic, longstanding trend, they noted. "From 2002 to 2018, the total rate [of suicide deaths] increased 30%, from 10.
9 deaths per 100,000 standard population to 14.2," wrote report co-authors Matthew Garnett and Sally Curtin , of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Looking at final 2022 data from the National Vital Statistics System, the researchers found some variations in suicide death by age, gender and method used.
Among males, rates decreased somewhat among boys and young men ages 10 through 24 between 2020 and 2022, but it rose among men over the age of 24. However, rates for suicide death among males overall did rise, and "the suicide rate for males was three to four times the rate for females across the period,".
