- Suicide ranks as the THIRD leading cause of death for ages 15-24 and FOURTH for ages 10-14.
- Suicide is the SECONDleading cause of death for our college age youth, as well as for ages 15 to 19 in many states.
- Each week in our nation, we lose approximately 100+ young people to suicide.
- More teenagers and young adults have died of suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic lung disease COMBINED
Suicide is the fifth leading cause of death among those 5-14 years old.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among those 15-24 years old.
Between the mid-1950s and the late 1970s, the suicide rate among U.S. males aged 15-24 more than tripled (from 6.3 per 100,000 in 1955 to 21.3 in 1977). Among females aged 15-24, the rate more than doubled during this period (from 2.0 to 5.2). The youth suicide rate generally leveled off during the 1980s and early 1990s, and since the mid-1990s has been steadily decreasing.
Among young people aged 10-14 years, the rate has doubled in the last two decades.
- Between 1980-1996, the suicide rate for African-American males aged 15-19 has also doubled