On February 10, 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data on suicide deaths for the year 2021. According to the new data, suicide deaths in the United States increased from 45,979 to 48,183 (4.79%) between the years 2020 and 2021 with the age-adjusted suicide rate for 2021 at 14.1 per 100,000 people. This year’s report looks at age, race and ethnicity related trends between 2018 and 2021 which point to disparities in trends between non-Hispanic Whites and other racial and ethnic groups. Between 2018 and 2021, increases in age-adjusted suicide rates were highest amongst Native Americans (26%), with Blacks (19.2%) and Hispanics (6.8%) also evidencing significant increases. Over this period from 2018 to 2021, suicide rates for Whites declined by 3.9%, however they increased between 2020 and 2021 from 16.9 to 17.4 per 100,000 people. By race/ethnicity, the highest number of suicide deaths in 2021 were within the White population (36,681). Among the various age groups, a significant increase occurred for 25–44-year-olds (5% increase from 2018 to 2021), while the rate decreased by 12.4% for 45–64-year-olds (the age group that has traditionally contributed the most to the overall number of suicides). Increases for 25–44-year-olds were also seen for Native Americans and Hispanics, however, for Black people, the largest increase (36.6%) was seen in people aged 10–24.
