News release: “The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has undertaken the most comprehensive analysis of Veteran suicide rates in the U.S., examining over 55 million Veteran records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The effort extends VA’s knowledge from the previous report issued in 2010, which examined  three million  Veteran records from 20 states were available.  Based on the data from 2010, VA estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide averaged 22 per day.  The current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died from suicide. “One Veteran suicide is one too many, and this collaborative effort provides both updated and comprehensive data that allows us to make better informed decisions on how to prevent this national tragedy,” said VA Under Secretary for Health, Dr. David J. Shulkin. “We as a nation must focus on bringing the number of Veteran suicides to zero.” The final report will be publicly released later this month.  Key findings of the analysis will include:

• 65% of all Veterans who died from suicide in 2014 were 50 years of age or older.
• Veterans accounted for 18% of all deaths from suicide among U.S. adults. This is a decrease from 22% in 2010.
• Since 2001, U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23%, while Veteran suicides increased 32% in the same time period.  After controlling for age and gender, this makes the risk of suicide 21% greater for Veterans.
• Since 2001, the rate of suicide among US Veterans who use VA services increased by 8.8%, while the rate of suicide among Veterans who do not use VA services increased by 38.6%.
  • In the same time period, the rate of suicide among male Veterans who use VA services increased 11%, while the rate of suicide increased 35% among male Veterans who do not use VA services.
  • In the same time period, the rate of suicide among female Veterans who use VA services increased 4.6%, while the rate of suicide increased 98% among female Veterans who do not use VA services.

Please also see our Suicide Prevention Fact Sheet at this link.”