Bucking a National Trend, Suicide Rates Decline for Black Men in the U.S.

A recently released study from the Centers for Disease Control has found that suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in 30 years, with increases in every age group except older adults and black men, reports the New York Times.

This is especially heartening given the news from last May that the suicide rate among black children has nearly doubled since the early 1990s.

The number of suicides increased among all racial groups except for black males, who saw an eight percent decline in suicide rate from 10.5 to 9.7 per 100,000 between 1999 and 2014, respectively.

Native Americans had the sharpest rise of all racial and ethnic groups, with rates rising by 89 percent for women and 38 percent for men. Suicide rates among white women and white men increased by 60 percent and 28 percent, respectively, and white middle-aged women had an increase of 80 percent.

Researchers also found an alarming increase among girls 10 to 14, whose suicide rate, while still very low, had tripled.

“It’s really stunning to see such a large increase in suicide rates affecting virtually every age group,” said Katherine Hempstead, senior adviser for health care at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who has identified a link between suicides in middle age and rising rates of distress about jobs and personal finances.

White Americans, whose rates had been in decline since the 1950s seem to be suffering acutely, with surges in deaths from drug overdoses, suicides, liver disease and alcohol poisoning, particularly among those with a high school education or less.

The new federal analysis also noted that the methods of suicide were changing with the total number of gun suicides increasing.