Why Is The American Suicide Rate Rising?

Can we get this train moving back in the right direction?

49,449 Americans died by suicide in 2022. That’s a 2.6% increase from 2021, and the highest number ever recorded. The highest demographic rise was over-65, which was an 8.1% increase from 2021. The 45–64 category, age-wise, increased about 6%.

The CDC has also noted that suicides have risen every year since 2006, with 2019 and 2020 as exceptions. Some call it a “silent mental health crisis.” I’m not so sure it’s “silent” per se. Andrew Yang didn’t have the best Presidential (or Mayoral) run but one thing he often said is: “You judge a society by how people are living — and how they’re dying.” Constantly setting new records for suicide isn’t necessarily a good thing.

If you assume 330 million people live in the USA, the suicide rate is only .00014. That’s nothing, right? Well, it’s still essentially 50,000 people, which means the equivalent of a small town-ish — Jefferson, Indiana for example — is dying by their own hands every year. That’s not ideal.

So what is going on?