Suicides among veterans remain unchanged despite federal focus

Editor’s note: This report contains discussion of suicide. Troops, veterans and family members experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 and dial 1, text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.

The suicide rate among veterans held steady from 2021 to 2022 at roughly 17.6 deaths per day despite concerted federal efforts to bring the number down, department officials announced on Thursday.

The 2022 figures are the latest available from federal census data and suggest limited progress on the issue of suicide prevention by Veterans Affairs leaders in recent years. At least 6,407 veterans died by suicide in 2022, the 14th time in 15 years that number has been above the 6,400 mark.

But VA officials offered the latest results as a positive, given that the number of suicides in America rose by nearly 4% from the previous year. That suggests that outreach efforts are helping to keep veteran deaths in check, they said.

“The patterns of suicide among veterans differ across demographic subgroups, and over time the recent decrease in suicide rates among younger veterans is encouraging,” Dr. Matthew Miller, executive director of VA’s Office of Suicide Prevention, told reporters on Thursday. “Yet the increase among older age groups highlights the need for targeted interventions.”

Military suicides rose in 2023, continuing a troubling trend

Veterans remain almost twice as likely to die by suicide than their civilian peers, and the overall rate rose 2% from 2020 to 2022.

More than 84,000 veterans have died as a result of suicide since 2010. That’s a higher total than all of the combat deaths U.S. troops suffered in the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

“Every veteran suicide is a tragedy,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement accompanying the report release. “There is nothing more important to VA than ending veteran suicide, and that means providing veterans with the care they need, wherever they need it, whenever they need it.

“We will learn from this report to better serve veterans and save lives.”

VA researchers highlighted several positive trends in the latest census data. For example, suicide rates for female veterans decreased by about 24% from 2021 to 2022, even while the rate for non-veteran women rose by 5%. The rate for veteran and civilian males was roughly the same.

Veterans under the age of 35 and individuals who recently transitioned out of military service also saw decreases in suicide rates. Veterans with a history of homelessness saw a 19% reduction in their rate of suicide, indicating that outreach to that group is also producing results.

Only about 40% of the suicides were among veterans currently enrolled in VA health care. Within that group, the highest rates of suicides were among veterans who had the lowest amount of direct interaction with VA medical staff.

Department officials have in the past emphasized the importance of bringing veterans into the system, because of the positive benefits in suicide prevention.

But the 2022 numbers show that at least 17 veterans a day have been lost to preventable, self-inflicted deaths for more than a decade, despite promises from public officials to find solutions to the problem.

Lack of progress on the issue has frustrated many advocates and lawmakers, including several who have called for a complete overhaul of how the department approaches its suicide prevention efforts.

“There is not a government program with weaker data supporting its funding than this,” said Justin Brown, CEO of the Nimitz Group. “For two decades, VA has used the same playbook with continued failed outcomes. The result has been tens of thousands of lives lost, billions spent, and no accountability.”