U.S. military suicides rose in 2023, persisting despite prevention efforts

Suicides among military service members rose in 2023 continuing a gradual rise in suicides among active-duty forces, persisting despite prevention efforts.

The Defense Department’s annual report on suicides in the military released Thursday said suicides among active-duty military rose from 331 in 2022 to 363 in 2023.

“Admittedly yes, that long-term trend is gradually increasing,” Dr. Timothy Hoyt, Deputy Director of the Office of Force Resiliency at the Defense Department told reporters on a call. 

The suicide rate has grown from 17 per 100,000 active duty service members in 2011 to 26 in 2023, according to data released in the annual report for 2023, although the rate decreased for one year from 2020-2021.

Active duty service members who died by suicide in 2023 were largely enlisted males under the age of 30, accounting for 61% of suicides. The most common method of suicide was firearms, at 65%, followed by hanging or asphyxiation, at 28%.

Defense officials said the suicide rates were similar to rates across the U.S. population between 2011 and 2022. 

“We are not immune to the factors that drive suicide throughout the U.S., and our service members face, in addition to those, a number of unique military challenges,” Hoyt said. 

He added recommendations from the Suicide Prevention Response and Independent Review Committee have given a “mechanism by which we can address as many of those potential risks as possible and make investments in those spaces.” 

The Pentagon set up the review committee to provide recommendations to reduce suicide deaths in the military. Last year the committee made a series of recommendations, including broadly improving the delivery of mental health care, addressing stigma and other barriers to care and revising suicide prevention training.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who established the review committee mandated by Congress in 2022 said in a statement that the annual report’s findings “urgently demonstrate the need for the Department to redouble its work in the complex fields of suicide prevention and postvention.” Austin said the Defense Department completed 20 of the 83 committee’s recommendations.

The Pentagon expects to spend about $250 million on suicide prevention in fiscal year 2025, the largest amount of funds the Defense Department has ever invested, Hoyt told reporters.

“A lot of the time where we’ve done initiatives during the past two decades, there’s been insufficient investment in making sure that those have staying power, that we’ve got a long-term implementation of those programs,” Hoyt said. 

The total number of suicides across the force, including both active duty and reserve, was 523 in 2023 compared to 493 in 2022. 

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for veterans as well. According to the most recent report from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the suicide rate for 2021 was 33.9 per 100,000, up from 32.6 per 100,000 in 2020.

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email [email protected].