Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC): About Suicide

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Suicide Prevention Basics

About Suicide

Suicide is a major public health problem. In 2002 ¹

31,655 people died by suicide in the United States.
Suicide was the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. In the U.S., more people die by suicide each year than die because of HIV or homicide.
11 out of every 100,000 Americans died by suicide.

There are gender, ethnic, and age differences in suicide ²

Males are four times as likely to die by suicide than as females - although females attempt suicide three times as often as males.
White Americans are more likely to die by suicide than Americans of other racial backgrounds.
Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 15-24 and the second leading cause of death among those between the ages of 25-34.
Suicide rates increase with age. Elderly people who die by suicide are often divorced or widowed and suffering from a physical illness.

There is a strong association between suicide and mental illness.

Ninety percent of suicides that take place in the United States are associated with mental illness, including disorders involving the abuse of alcohol and other drugs ³.
Fifty percent of those who die by suicide were afflicted with major depression, and the suicide rate of people with major depression is eight times that of the general population ⁴.

Suicide is a preventable public health problem ⁵.

References

Data generated by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's WISQARS system in September, 2005.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2004). Suicide Fact Sheet.
Goldsmith, S, Pellmar, A, Kleinman, A, Bunney, W. (editors) (2002). Reducing Suicide: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Jacobs, D, Brewer, M, and Klein-Benheim, M. (1999) Suicide Assessment: An Overview and Recommended Protocol. In The Harvard Medical School Guide to Suicide Assessment and Intervention edited by D. Jacobs. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Goal 1. National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (2001). Rockville, MD: United States Public Health Service.

The SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-03) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the information on this web site is intended or should be inferred.

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