By the Numbers - Mar. 27, 2017

By the Numbers - Mar. 27, 2017

600,000 

The number of U.S. residents who died by suicide during 1999-2015, according to a recent article in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbisity and Mortality Weekly Report -- Trends in Suicide by Level of Urbanization — United States, 1999–2015. The report noted that the highest annual rate occurred in 2015.

A clear trend, according to the report's statistical analysis, is that the suicide rate in medium metro, small metro, and non-metro areas is outpacing the suicide rate in large metro areas. Other data points from the article:

  • Overall rates of suicide among males were approximately four times those among females
  • By race/ethnicity, non-Hispanic whites and American Indian/Alaska Natives had the highest rates of suicide
  • By age, the highest suicide rates were among 35- to 64-year-olds, and people 75+
  • Rates increased for both non-firearm and firearm suicide; there was a larger increase in the rate of "non-firearm suicide, particularly from suffocation (which includes hanging)"

suicide rates by level of county urbanization