Friends For Survival, Inc - A total of 384,262 suicide deaths were recorded in the United States during the 13 years from 1980 through 1992. A suicide death occurs every 17 minutes in the United States. 1
- Suicide deaths have exceeded the number of homicides every year since 1981. 1
- In 1992, more than 90% of suicide deaths were among whites, with white males accounting for 73% and white females for 18% of all suicide deaths.
- Suicide rates for males peak during youth and old age. 1
- Married persons have lower suicide rates than single, never married individuals. The highest rates occur among widowed and divorced persons. 1
- Firearms were used in most suicide deaths in the United States during the 1980s and early 1990s and accounted for 60% of all suicide death in 1992. The next most commonly reported method was poisoning (18%). 1
- As in previous decades, suicide rates in the western states were generally higher than those in the eastern and midwestern regions. 1
- In the 50 largest U. S. Metropolitan Areas: Denver-Boulder, Colorado has the highest rate: 17.6 Boston-Lawrence-Salem-Lowell-Brockton, MA-NH has lowest rate: 7.4 2 (all rates are per 100,000 population)
- According to the National Association of Chiefs of Police, more than 300 officers die by suicide each year, twice the average number killed annually in the line of duty.
- In 1998 suicide was the 8th cause of death, following AIDS & heart disease. 3
FOR MORE COMPLETE STATISTICS REFER TO AAS AND AFSP
Marilyn Koenig is shown above with the Friends for Survival “Memory Quilts”.
