The suicide rate among veterans has surged 35 percent since 2001, driven in part by sharp increases among those who have served since 2001, according to the largest study of such suicides. Of particular concern is the suicide rate among women, which has increased 85 percent in that time.
The Department of Veterans Affairs released key findings Thursday of a recently completed study examining the death records of more than 55 million veterans from 1979 to 2014 from every state. The study provides for the first time a clear picture of an issue that has been a top concern of the Pentagon and the White house. Previous estimates relied only on three million death records from 20 states, not including the four largest, and depended on self-reporting of veteran status on death certificates.
“This isn’t an estimate, this is the answer,” Dr. David J. Shulkin, the department’s undersecretary for health, said Thursday.
Hardest hit were young veterans. The suicide rate for veterans age 18 to 29 was 86 deaths per 100,000 for men and 33 deaths per 100,000 for women — much higher than previous estimates, and almost twice as high as all other age groups. The civilian suicide rate is about 14 deaths per 100,000.
Dr. Shulkin said rates had increased across all age groups, but the rise among young veterans was “by far the highest.”
Women were also disproportionately hit. Though female veterans commit suicide at lower rates than their male colleagues, those younger than 30 are more than six times as likely to take their own lives than women in the civilian world. The agency’s suicide prevention experts have suggested that the higher rate is partly because female veterans, who gained familiarity with firearms during service, use guns much more often in suicide attemptsthan civilian women.