Health A-Z

Suicide occurs almost twice as often as murder. Each year, about 32,000 people in the United States die by suicide. In the United States:¹

• Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 24 and the second leading cause for people ages 25 to 34.
• A gun is the most common method of suicide.
• Suicide rates have increased for females ages 10 to 19 and males ages 15 to 19.
• Suicide rates have increased for adults older than 65. One suicide death occurs for every 4 suicide attempts.
• Women try suicide more often, but men are 4 times more likely to die from a suicide attempt.

Many people have fleeting thoughts of death. Fleeting thoughts of death are less of a problem and are much different from actively planning to commit suicide. Your risk of committing suicide is increased if you think about death and killing yourself often, or if you have made a suicide plan.