Special Facts About Suicide

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Special Facts About Suicide

1. A total of 384,262 suicide deaths were recorded in the United States during the 13 years from 1980 through 1992. A suicide death occurs every 17 minutes in the United States. 1

2. Suicide deaths have exceeded the number of homicides every year since 1981. 1

3. In 1992, more than 90% of suicide deaths were among whites, with white males accounting for 73% and white females for 18% of all suicide deaths. 1

4. Suicide rates for males peak during youth and old age. 1

5. Married persons have lower suicide rates than single, never married individuals. The highest rates occur among widowed and divorced persons. 1

6. Firearms were used in most suicide deaths in the United States during the 1980s and early 1990s and accounted for 60% of all suicide death in 1992 The next most commonly reported method was poisoning (18%). 1

7. As in previous decades, suicide rates in the western states were generally higher than those in the eastern and midwestern regions. 1

8. In the 50 largest U. S. Metropolitan Areas: Denver-Boulder, Colorado has the highest rate: 17.6 Boston-Lawrence-Salem-Lowell-Brockton, MA-NH has lowest rate: 7.4 2 (all rates are per 100,000 population)

9. According to the National Association of Chiefs of Police, more than 300 officers die by suicide each year, twice the average number killed annually in the line of duty.

10. In 1998 suicide was the 8th cause of death, following AIDS & heart disease. 3

http://www.friendsforsurvival.org/statistics.html

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