This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
The U.S. recorded a record high number of suicides in 2022, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
Nearly 50,000 Americans chose to take their own lives last year, with the vast majority of those being men. The NCHS warned that the current numbers are provisional, and the true statistics are likely to rise.
By gender, men saw 23.1 suicides per 100,000 population, while women saw 5.9 suicides per 100,000. The average rate for all Americans was 14.3 per 100,000, the highest recorded since 1941.
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The U.S. recorded its highest-ever number of suicides in 2022, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
The new data arrives just days after a Department of Veterans Affairs report found a spike in suicides among the nation’s service members. Veteran suicides saw a spike of 11.6% between 2020 and 2021, totaling 6,392 suicides in 2021 alone, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs’ suicide report released this month.
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“It’s a disturbing trend that after going down for two years, we saw spike,” Cole Lyle, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and executive director of Mission Roll Call, told Fox News Digital on Monday. “After COVID and the Afghanistan withdrawal … it’s probably not surprising that we saw an increase in veteran suicide.”
After serving in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Corps veteran Cole Lyle said he came close to taking his own life. (Cole Lyle)
“Anecdotally, we saw a lot of evidence that both of those events were negatively impacting the mental health in the veterans community and suicide rates,” he added. “I mean, personally, I had to talk a few friends down off the ledge during the Afghanistan withdrawal crisis, so I don’t think anybody necessarily is surprised by this increase. But, it is tragic and there are seemingly simple things that we could do to at least try to reverse this trend.”
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A shocking survey in October found that 36% of young adults ages 18-34 stated that they had contemplated suicide at some point over the past year.
A shocking survey in October found that 36% of young adults ages 18-34 stated that they had contemplated suicide at some point over the past year. (iStock)
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Despite that, less than a third (32%) strongly agreed that they can recognize the warning signs of someone potentially at risk, while just four in 10 people (43%) are strongly aware of resources that offer support and information on suicide prevention, the poll by CVS Health in Rhode Island found.
Fox News’ Kendall Tietz and Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.
