By the Numbers - July 18, 2016
65%
The percentage of all Veterans who died from suicide in 2014 who were 50 years or older, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that will be publicly released later this month. According to a VA blog post:
VA has undertaken the most comprehensive analysis of Veteran suicide rates in the U.S., examining over 55 million Veteran records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The effort extends VA’s knowledge from the previous report issued in 2010, which examined three million Veteran records from 20 states were available. Based on the data from 2010, VA estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide averaged 22 per day. The current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died from suicide.
Other findings in the report:
· Veterans accounted for 18 percent of all deaths from suicide among U.S. adults.
· Since 2001, U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23 percent, while Veteran suicides increased 32 percent in the same time period. After controlling for age and gender, this makes the risk of suicide 21 percent greater for Veterans.
· Since 2001, the rate of suicide among U.S. Veterans who use VA services increased by 8.8 percent, while the rate of suicide among Veterans who do not use VA services increased by 38.6 percent.
· After adjusting for differences in age and gender, risk for suicide was 21% higher among Veterans when compared to U.S. civilian adults.
· Approximately 66% of all Veteran deaths from suicide were the result of firearm injuries.
The VA has just released a fact sheet (PDF) that includes these and other statistics.
65%
The percentage of all Veterans who died from suicide in 2014 who were 50 years or older, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that will be publicly released later this month. According to a VA blog post:
VA has undertaken the most comprehensive analysis of Veteran suicide rates in the U.S., examining over 55 million Veteran records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The effort extends VA’s knowledge from the previous report issued in 2010, which examined three million Veteran records from 20 states were available. Based on the data from 2010, VA estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide averaged 22 per day. The current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died from suicide.
Other findings in the report:
· Veterans accounted for 18 percent of all deaths from suicide among U.S. adults.
· Since 2001, U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23 percent, while Veteran suicides increased 32 percent in the same time period. After controlling for age and gender, this makes the risk of suicide 21 percent greater for Veterans.
· Since 2001, the rate of suicide among U.S. Veterans who use VA services increased by 8.8 percent, while the rate of suicide among Veterans who do not use VA services increased by 38.6 percent.
· After adjusting for differences in age and gender, risk for suicide was 21% higher among Veterans when compared to U.S. civilian adults.
· Approximately 66% of all Veteran deaths from suicide were the result of firearm injuries.
The VA has just released a fact sheet (PDF) that includes these and other statistics.