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U.S.A. SUICIDE: 2004 OFFICIAL FINAL DATA
Number
Per Day*
Rate
% of Deaths

Group (Number of Sui.)
Rate

Nation
32,439
88.6
11.1
1.4

White Male (23,081)
19.6

Males
25,566
69.9
17.7
2.2

White Female (6,170)
5.1

Females
6,873
18.8
4.6
0.6

Nonwhite Male (2,485)
9.3

Whites
29,251
79.9
12.3
1.4

Nonwhite Female (703)
2.4

Nonwhites
3,188
8.7
5.8
0.9

Black Male (1,655)
9.0

Blacks
2,019
5.5
5.2
0.7

Black Female (364)
1.8

Elderly (65+ yrs.)
5,198
14.2
14.3
0.3

Hispanic (2,207)
5.3

Young (15-24 yrs.)
4,316
11.8
10.4
12.9

Native American (404)
12.9

Asian/Pacific Islander (765)
5.6
a slight increase from 2003 was seen in 2004, but the pattern has been primarily stability or slight declines in recent years

* Note: there were 366 days in the year 2004.
Age Group

Number of Suicides

Suicide Rate
10-14 yrs

283

1.3
15-19 yrs

1,700

8.2
20-24 yrs

2,616

12.5

Extrapolations about:

Deaths by Suicide (Completions):

Causes of Death Among Those 15-24 Yrs. of Age, 2004:

Cause
Number
Rate

All Causes
33,421
80.2

1-Accidents
15,449
37.1

2-Homicide
5,085
12.2

3-Suicide
4,316
10.4

Attempts (figures are estimates; no official U.S. national attempt data are compiled; based on research findings):

Survivors ("Suicide survivors" refers to the family, friends, significant others, and loved ones of individuals who die by suicide. No official data exist to determine the number of survivors and no systematic or large-scale epidemiological study has been conducted to provide better estimates.):

Firearms are the Leading Method of Suicide

Suicide Methods:

Number

Rate
Percent of Total

Number

Rate
Percent of Total

Firearm suicides

16,750

5.7
51.6%

All but Firearms

15,689

5.3
48.4%

Suffocation/Hanging

7,336

2.5
22.6%

Poisoning

5,800

2.0
17.9%

Cut/Pierce

590

0.2
1.8%

Drowning

365

0.1
1.1%

U.S.A. Suicide Rates
(Rates per 100,000 population)
1990-2004
Age/Group
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
5-14
0.8
0.7
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.6
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.7
15-24
13.2
13.1
13.0
13.5
13.8
13.3
12.0
11.4
11.1
10.3
10.4
9.9
9.9
9.7
10.4
25-34
15.2
15.2
14.5
15.1
15.4
15.4
14.5
14.3
13.8
13.5
12.8
12.8
12.6
12.7
12.7
35-44
15.3
14.7
15.1
15.1
15.3
15.2
15.5
15.3
15.4
14.4
14.6
14.7
15.3
14.9
15.1
45-54
14.8
15.5
14.7
14.5
14.4
14.6
14.9
14.7
14.8
14.2
14.6
15.2
15.7
15.9
16.6
55-64
16.0
15.4
14.8
14.6
13.4
13.3
13.7
13.5
13.1
12.4
12.3
13.1
13.6
13.8
13.8
65-74
17.9
16.9
16.5
16.3
15.3
15.8
15.0
14.4
14.1
13.6
12.6
13.3
13.5
12.7
12.3
75-84
24.9
23.5
22.8
22.3
21.3
20.7
20.0
19.3
19.7
18.3
17.7
17.4
17.7
16.4
16.3
85+
22.2
24.0
21.9
22.8
23.0
21.6
20.2
20.8
21.0
19.2
19.4
17.5
18.0
16.9
16.4
65+
20.5
19.7
19.1
19.0
18.1
18.1
17.3
16.8
16.9
15.9
15.3
15.3
15.6
14.6
14.3
Total
12.4
12.2
12.0
12.1
12.0
11.9
11.6
11.4
11.3
10.7
10.7
10.8
11.0
10.8
11.1
Men
20.4
20.1
19.6
19.9
19.8
19.8
19.3
18.7
18.6
17.6
17.5
17.6
17.9
17.6
17.7
Women
4.8
4.7
4.6
4.6
4.5
4.4
4.4
4.4
4.4
4.1
4.1
4.1
4.3
4.3
4.6
White
13.5
13.3
13.0
13.1
12.9
12.9
12.7
12.4
12.4
11.7
11.7
11.9
12.2
12.1
12.3
Nonwhite
7.0
6.8
6.8
7.1
7.2
6.9
6.7
6.5
6.2
6.0
5.9
5.6
5.5
5.5
5.8
Black
6.9
6.7
6.8
7.0
7.0
6.7
6.5
6.2
5.7
5.6
5.6
5.3
5.1
5.1
5.2
15 Leading Causes of Death in the U.S.A., 2004
(total of 2,397,615 deaths; 816.5 rate)

Rank

Cause of Death

Rate

Deaths
1

Diseases of the heart (heart disease)

222.2

652,486
2

Malignant neoplasms (cancer)

188.6

553,888
3

Cerebrovascular diseases (stroke)

51.1

150,074
4

Chronic lower respiratory diseases

41.5

121,987
5

Accidents (unintentional injuries)

38.1

112,012
6

Diabetes mellitus (diabetes)

24.9

73,138
7

Alzheimer's disease

22.5

65,965
8

Influenza and pneumonia

20.3

59,664
9

Nephritis, nephrosis (kidney disease)

14.5

42,480
10

Septicemia

11.4

33,373
11

Suicide [intentional self-harm]

11.1

32,439
12

Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis

9.2

27,013
13

Essential hypertension and renal disease

7.9

23,076
14

Parkinson's disease

6.1

17,989
15

Homicide [assault]

5.9

17,357
-

All other causes (Residual)

141.2

414,674

Old made up 12.4% of 2004 population but represented 16.0% of the suicides.

Young were 14.2% of 2004 population and comprised 13.3% of the suicides.

972,264 Years of Potential Life Lost Before Age 75 (YPLL-75) in 2004 (29,509 of 32,439 suicides below age 75)

Official data source: CDC's WISQARS website and "Fatal Injury Reports": http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/ 12 December 2006.

Note: Some caution is warranted in comparing causes of death from other years to those for 1999 - 2004. The classification system employed (the International Classification of Diseases - ICD) was revised beginning with 1999 deaths (ICD-10). This affected some causes more than others; suicide was affected minimally by these changes. For a brief discussion of this issue, particularly related to the ranking of causes of death, see this document.
number of suicides by group

Suicide Data Page: 2004

suicide rate =
-----------------------------------

X 100,000

18 December 2006

population of group

Prepared for AAS by John L. McIntosh, Ph.D.
American Association of Suicidology
5221 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20015
(202) 237-2280 Phone
(202) 237-2282 FAX
www.suicidology.org Website
info@suicidology.org Email
"to understand and prevent suicide as a means of promoting human well-being"
| 2004 State Data | 2004 Additional Statistics and Tables |

| 2003 Summary Data | 2002 Summary Data | 2001 Summary Data (PDF) | 2000 Summary Data |

PDF file of the primary information on this page

| Suicide Data Archive | Suicide Statistics Link Page | 

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12/18/06 - JLM- Prepared for the American Association of Suicidology by John L. McIntosh, Ph.D.