June 18, 2019

Raw Data: Suicide Rates Among Men and Women

Axios reports today on “Generation Z’s suicide epidemic.” Among the older half of Generation Z, suicide is the “highest it’s been since at least 1999.” That’s true, and among girls it’s the highest it’s ever been. But among boys it’s not quite at its peak from the late 80s and early 90s—though it will get there soon on current trends:

Here are suicide rates by age group since 1999:

Among men, suicide rates flattened out around 2010 for the middle-aged. At the same time, it surged among the young.

Among women, suicide has been steadily increasing for the past 20 years. There aren’t really any big spurts or any flattening out. The overall suicide rate is still far lower for women than for men, but they’re catching up: since 1999, suicide is up by 58 percent among women compared to 34 percent for men.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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