Facts About Suicide

from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Studies indicate that the best way to prevent suicide is through the early recognition and treatment of depression and other psychiatric illnesses.

• Over 29,000 people in the United States kill themselves every year
• Accounting for 1.3% of all deaths, suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States
• A person dies by suicide about every 18 minutes in the U.S. An attempt is made once a minute.
• There are more than four male suicides for every female suicide. However, at least twice as many females as males attempt suicide.
• Every day, approximately 86 Americans take their own life, and 1500 attempt. There are an estimated eight to twenty-five attempted suicides to one completion.
• Suicide is the 6th leading cause of death among all those 5 to 14 years of age.
• Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among all those 15 to 24 years of age.
• The suicide rate for white males age 15 to 24 has tripled since 1950, while for white females, it has more than doubled. Among persons age 10 to 14 years, the rate has increased by 100%.
• Between 1980 and 1996, the suicide rate for African-American males age 15 to 19 increased 105%.
• Risk factors for suicide among the young include suicidal thoughts, psychiatric disorders (such as depression, impulsive aggressive behavior, bipolar disorder, certain anxiety disorders), drug and/or alcohol abuse and previous suicide attempts, with the risk increased if there is also access to firearms and situational stress.
• The suicide rates for men are relatively constant from ages 25 to 64, but increase significantly after age 65. White men 85 and older have a suicide rate that is six times that of the overall national rate.
• The suicide rates for women peak between the ages of 45 to 64, and do so again after age 75.
• Most elderly patients who complete suicide see their physicians within a few months of their death and more than a third within the week of their suicide.
• Eight to 20 percent of older Americans and up to 37 percent in primary care settings experience symptoms of minor depression. Among those aged 65 and over, as many as 3 out 100 suffer from clinical depression.
• Risk factors for suicide among the elderly include the presence of a mental illness - especially depression and alcohol abuse; the presence of a physical illness; social isolation - especially being widowed in males; and the availability of firearms in the home.
• Over 60% of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression. If one includes alcoholics who are depressed, this figure rises to over 75%.
• More Americans suffer from depression than coronary heart disease (7 million), cancer (6 million), and AIDS (200,000).
• Depression affects nearly 10 percent of Americans ages 18 and over in a given year, or more than 19 million people in 1998.
• About 15% of the population will suffer from clinical depression at some time during their lifetime. Thirty percent of all clinically depressed inpatients attempt suicide.
• Depression is the most treatable of psychiatric illnesses. Some estimates suggest that between 80% and 90% of people with depression respond positively to treatment, and almost all patients gain some relief from their symptoms. But first, depression has to be recognized.
• 96% of alcoholics who die by suicide continue their substance abuse up to the end of their lives.
• Alcoholism is a factor in about 30% of all completed suicides.
• Approximately 7 percent of those with alcohol dependence will die by suicide.
• Although most gun owners reportedly keep a firearm in their home for "protection" or "self-defense," 83% of gun-related deaths in these homes are the result of a suicide, often by someone other than the gun owner.
• Death by firearms is the fastest growing method of suicide.
• Firearms are now used in more suicides than homicides.
• Firearm suicide accounts for nearly 57% of all firearm deaths in this country - more than any other cause of firearm injury deaths.
• White males aged 85 years and over account for the highest rate for suicide by firearms.
• Patients who desire an early death during a serious or terminal illness are usually suffering from a treatable depressive condition.
• People with AIDS have a suicide risk up to 20 times that of the general population.

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PREVENTION OF SUICIDAL BEHAVIORS: A TASK FOR ALL
As reprinted from the World Health Organization

The Problem:

• In the year 2003, approximately one million people will die from suicide: a "global" mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds
• In the last 45 years, suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15 to 44 years (both sexes); these figures do not include suicide attempts up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicide
• Suicide worldwide is estimated to represent 1.8% of the total global burden of disease in 1998, and 2.4% in countries with market and former socialist economies in 2020.
• Although traditionally suicide rates have been highest among the male elderly, rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of countries, in both developed and developing countries.
• Mental disorders (particularly depression and substance abuse) are associated with more than 90% of all cases of suicide; however, suicide results from many complex sociocultural factors and is more likely to occur particularly during periods of socioeconomic, family and individual crisis situations (e.g. loss of a loved one, employment, honor)

Effective interventions:

• Strategies involving restriction of access to common methods of suicide have proved to be effective in reducing suicide rates; however, there is a need to adopt multi-sectoral approaches involving other levels of intervention and activities, such as crisis centers
• There is compelling evidence indicating that adequate prevention and treatment of depression, alcohol and substance abuse can reduce suicide rates
• School-based interventions involving crisis management, self-esteem enhancement and the development of coping skills and healthy decision making have been demonstrated to reduce the risk of suicide among the youth

Challenges and Obstacles:

• Worldwide, the prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to basically a lack of awareness of suicide as a major problem and the taboo in many societies to discuss openly about it. In fact, only a few countries have included prevention of suicide among their priorities
• Reliability of suicide certification and reporting is an issue in great need of improvement
• It is clear that suicide prevention requires intervention also from outside the health sector and calls for an innovative, comprehensive multi-sectoral approach; including both health and non-health sectors, e.g. education, labor, police, justice, religion, law, politics, the media

Comprehensive information on various aspects of suicide can be found in the HealthyPlace.com Depression Community. If you are feeling suicidal, please call 911, a hospital, your doctor, a family member or friend, or a crisis hotline.

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