This is what I have been looking for since 2021 and 2022 rates are hard to find. If you’re familiar with depression and stress it hit AFTER an event. I know, I have been there and even though 2020 had a slight dip in deaths, they increased each year after. Which is the point I was tryng to make-—first comes drinking, then drugs, then hopelessness and eventually suicide.
U.S. Suicide Rates Rose in 2021, Reversing 2 Years of Decline
“he number of suicides increased to 47,646 in 2021, up from 45,979 in 2020, according to researchers at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
As a result, the U.S. suicide rate also increased to 14 suicides for every 100,000 people, up from 13.5 per 100,000 in 2020, according to data published in the CDC’s Vital Statistics Rapid Release.”
Did COVID play a part?
The COVID-19 pandemic might have played a role in this increase in suicides for a couple of reasons, experts said.
“We have seen during the pandemic increased reports of mental health distress,” Carr said. “Any time that people are feeling more mental health distress, there also is a potential increase for suicide.”
But the rate also could be rising because lockdowns and social distancing renewed the public’s awareness of mental health issues and suicide, said Kimberly Torguson, the action alliance’s director of engagement and communications.
New Harris Poll numbers show that more than 8 out of 10 adults (84%) believe the pandemic made it more important than ever to consider suicide prevention a national priority, Torguson noted.
First of all that data is provisional. Second, the uptick is pretty marginal at 0.5 per 100K. Third, it remains below 2018. A socially monumental event like Covid would show some similarly monumental impact on a parameter like this if it was significant.
Interesting suicide item. Most are 85+. That’s pre Covid reality. And over 50% of suicides are with guns. Lots of old people shooting themselves, but apparently not as a result of anything involving Covid, or even provisional numbers were be above 2018.
There was just no impact on suicides. The 2020 numbers are conclusive. If there had been, especially with 85+ people KNOWING the virus was coming for them, they would have been shooting themselves more often.