Suicide Facts

• A person dies by suicide every 12 minutes in the U.S. (CDC)

• Over 40,000 people in the U.S. die by suicide each year.

• Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for 10-34 year olds. (CDC)

• 1 out of 5 high school students will consider suicide.

• 1 out of 12 college students has a suicide plan.

• More children and young adults die from suicide every year than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke and chronic lung disease combined.

• Nearly 1,000,000 people make a suicide attempt every year.

• For every youth suicide 100-200 make an attempt.

• Males are four times more likely to die from suicide than females.

• Females attempt suicide 3x more than males.

• Suicide rates have increased 30% in all states and is a large and growing health problem.

• Each day in our nation there are an average of over 5,400 suicide attempts by young people grades 7-12.

• More people die from suicide than from homicide.

• 1 out of 4 people diagnosed with bi-polar disorder will attempts suicide.

• 90% of those who die by suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death.

• Veterans comprise 22.2% of suicides.

• Attempts are 2 – 6x more frequent among youth who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, than among heterosexual youth.

• 8% of high school students reported having attempted suicide one or more times in the last year.