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Call or text 988 — the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Free, confidential, 24/7. Veterans dial 988 and press 1.
The U.S. suicide rate fell almost continuously from the early 1980s through 1999, then reversed. Between 1999 and 2018 the age-adjusted rate rose 35%. After a brief dip in 2019 – 2020 it climbed again to a new modern peak in 2022.
Rate accelerates upward during and after the Great Recession; researchers tie a portion of the rise to job loss, foreclosure, and despair-of-prospects in middle age.
Rate hits 14.2 per 100,000 — the highest since 1941. Public-health agencies begin classifying suicide alongside drug overdose and alcohol-related liver disease as a "death of despair".
A small, surprising decline during the first pandemic year. Researchers credit pulled-forward community support, financial relief, and the unifying effect of a shared crisis.
On July 16, 2022 the U.S. activates 988 — a three-digit national suicide and crisis hotline. In its first 18 months it handles more than 10 million calls, texts, and chats.
Roughly one in four U.S. adults lives with mental illness in any given year. Half of them get no treatment. The 988 Lifeline — three years old this summer — has answered more than 10 million contacts, the most concrete national prevention investment in a generation.
Every resource below is free, confidential, and staffed 24/7. You don't have to be in immediate danger to use them.