Health Disparities in Suicide

Overview

Suicide and suicide attempts can have lasting emotional, mental, and physical health impacts, as well as economic consequences. They can also impact people who struggle with their own risk of suicide and/or mental health challenges (called "lived experience").

Suicide and suicidal behavior are influenced by negative conditions. These conditions, sometimes called, social determinants of health, can include racism and discrimination in our society, economic hardship (such as high unemployment), poverty, limited affordable housing, lack of educational opportunities, and barriers to physical and mental healthcare access, among others.1Additional factors that can increase suicide risk include relationship problems or feeling a lack of connectedness to others, easy access to lethal means among people at risk, experiences of violence such as child abuse and neglect, adverse childhood experiences, bullying, and serious health conditions.2

While anyone can experience suicide risk, some populations experience more negative conditions and have higher rates of suicide or suicide attempts than the general U.S. population. The excess burden of suicide in some populations are called health disparities.3 Examples of groups experiencing suicide health disparities include veterans, people who live in rural areas, sexual and gender minorities, middle-aged adults, people of color, workers in certain occupations, and tribal populations.

Addressing these negative conditions and other risk factors can help prevent suicide and suicide attempts. CDC is concerned with groups disproportionately impacted by suicide and uses a comprehensive public health approach to reduce suicide risk and save lives.

What CDC is doing to address health disparities in suicide

CDC is supporting states, tribes, territories, non-governmental organizations, and university research programs to address four strategic priority areas in suicide prevention:

• Data: Using new and existing data to better understand, monitor, and prevent suicide and suicidal behavior.
• Science: Identifying risk and protective factors and effective policies, programs, and practices for suicide prevention in populations at increased risk for suicide.
• Action: Building the foundation for CDC's National Suicide Prevention Program.
• Collaboration: Developing and implementing wide-reaching partnership and communication strategies to raise awareness and advance suicide prevention activities.

Additionally, CDC funds the Comprehensive Suicide Prevention program, which aims to reduce suicide among groups that experience health disparities in suicide. These programs use suicide prevention strategies based on the best available evidence to help states and communities prevent suicide. These strategies can be found in CDC's Suicide Prevention Resource for Action, and include:

• Strengthen economic supports
• Create protective environments
• Improve access and delivery of suicide care
• Promote healthy connections
• Teach coping and problem-solving skills
• Identify and support people at risk
• Lessen harms and prevent future risk

Populations impacted

Suicide rates differ by age

Adults

According to 2024 data, adults ages 35 to 64 years account for almost half of all suicides in the United States.4 Suicide is the 6th leading cause of death for this age group.5

• Among men in this age group, suicide rates were highest for non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native men and non-Hispanic White men.4
• Among women in this age group, suicide rates were highest among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native women and non-Hispanic White women.4

Older adults

Adults ages 80 to 84 years have the highest suicide rates.4

Youth and young adults

Youth and young adults ages 10 to 24 years account for 13% of all suicides. 4Suicide is the second leading cause of death for this age group.5

In 2023, 20% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide and 9% attempted suicide during the past year. Female students were more likely than male students to seriously consider suicide and attempt suicide.6

Youth and young adults have high rates of emergency department (ED) visits for self-harm. In 2023, the ED visit rate for this age group was 372.02 per 100,000, compared with 113.42 per 100,000 among middle-aged adults ages 35-64 years. 7

• There were an estimated 240,778 ED visits for self-harm among youth and young adults. Girls and young women are at particularly high risk, with their ED visit rate (532.07 per 100,000) being over 2.5 times the rate of ED visits among boys and young men (202.63 per 100,000).7
• The rate of ED visits among girls in 2023 was over double compared to 2001 (244.2 per 100,000). 7
  

Suicide risk is higher among people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual

Data are limited on the frequency of suicide among people who identify as sexual minorities. However, research shows that high school students who identify as a sexual minority have a higher prevalence of suicide attempts compared to heterosexual students.6

In 2023, 1 in 5 high school students identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual reported attempting suicide in the past year. This was more than three times higher than the prevalence among heterosexual students.6

Data from 2023 show the prevalence of sexual minority individuals reporting suicide attempts in the prior 12 months was 10.1% for those aged 12-17 years, 4.8% for those aged 18-25 years of age, and 1.3% for those aged 26 to 49 years of age. 8

Suicide rates are higher among veterans

In 2023, 6,398 veterans died by suicide. Suicide was the 12^th leading cause of death among veterans overall, and the second leading cause of death among veterans under age 45. In 2023, the suicide rate among Veterans was about twice as high as the rate among non-Veteran U.S. adults.9

Additionally, in 2023, 0.3% of veteran young adults ages 18-25 49 reported making a suicide attempt during the previous 12 months. 10

Suicide rates vary by race and ethnicity

The racial/ethnic groups with the highest suicide rates in 2024 were non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people and non-Hispanic White people.11

Among non-Hispanic AI/AN people, suicide is the 8th leading cause of death.12 Additionally, non-Hispanic AI/AN people have a higher age-adjusted Asuicide rate than Hispanic AI/AN people.11

Suicide is the 9th leading cause of death for Hispanic people and 11th among non-Hispanic people of all races.1314

Suicidal ideation is higher among people with disabilities

Limited data are available on suicide among people with disabilities. However, a 2022 study found that adults with disabilities were much more likely to report suicidal thoughts and behaviors than adults without disabilities. Adults with any type of disability were between 2 and 3 times more likely to report suicidal thoughts. Adults with any type of disability were also 2 to 4 times more likely to report making a suicide plan and 2 to 3 times more likely to report a suicide attempt.15

Prior research also shows that the prevalence of reported mental distress, which is a risk factor for suicide, was 4.6 times higher among people with disabilities (32.9%) than among people without disabilities (7.2%).16

Suicide rates differ by industry and occupation

Industry is the type of activity at a person's workplace and occupation is the kind of work a person does to earn a living.

The top five industry groups that had the highest suicide rates were:17

1. Mining
2. Construction
3. Other Services (such as automotive repair)
4. Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
5. Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting
   

The top five occupation groups that had the highest suicide rates were:17

1. Construction and Extraction
2. Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
3. Personal Care and Service
4. Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
5. Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media
   

Suicide rates differ based on where you live

Suicide rates can vary substantially by geographic region. For example, suicide rates increase as population density decreases and an area becomes more rural. Big cities (large and central metro areas) have the lowest rates of suicide. In contrast, the most rural areas (noncore and non-metro) have the highest rates of suicide.18