Guns & America

Guns & America is a groundbreaking new national reporting collaborative in which 10 public media newsrooms, including Ideastream Public Media, will train their attention on a singular issue: the role of guns in American life. Over the course of two years, the stations will report on how guns impact us as Americans, from the cultural significance of hunting and sport shooting, to the role guns play in suicide, homicide, mass shootings and beyond. Follow our reporting at gunsandamerica.org.

The Growing Number Of Suicides Is Dragging Down U.S. Life Expectancy

By Leigh Paterson

Published November 29, 2018 at 11:25 PM EST

Joe Hunt (left) films a group of students making a suicide prevention PSA in Milliken, Colorado. [PSA] — Joe Hunt (left) films a group of students making a suicide prevention PSA in Milliken, Colorado

This year, high-profile incidents like the deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade as well as clusters of suicides among young people in communities all over the country have served as a reminder that suicide is a growing public health issue in the U.S.

Now, new data shows that overall life expectancy for Americans has declined, in part, due to the ongoing increase in suicide deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From 2016 to 2017, death rates increased for 7 of the 10 leading causes of death in the US. For suicides, the increase was 3.7 percent

“I was surprised that the suicide rate has continued to go up,” said Holly Hedegaard, a medical epidemiologist at the National Center for Health Statistics and one of the authors of the data brief. “In the last 50 years, it’s the highest suicide rate we’ve had in the country. Suicide rates were higher back in the 1930s but in terms of the last 50 years, the rate in 2017 is the highest its been.”

The Gender Divide

According to the report, from 1999 through 2017, suicide rates increased for both men and women. The overall rate increased 33 percent, from 10.5 suicides for every 100,000 people in 1999 to 14 suicides for every 100,000 people by 2017.

Over those 18 years, for women, the rate increased 53 percent, but was still much lower than the suicide rate among men. In 2017, the rate for men was 22.4 suicides per 100,000 people. In Colorado last year, men accounted for 76 percent of total suicide deaths.

The Impact Of Rural Life

The difference in suicide rates between rural and urban areas is growing. While the rate for the most rural U.S. counties in 2017 was 53 percent higher than the rate in 1999, the rate in most urban counties was just 16 percent higher.