Insights from the National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report | North Carolina Governor's Working Group [NCGWG]

The Department of Veteran Affairs recently released its National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, providing a comprehensive analysis of Veteran suicides through the year 2021. The report shows that 6,392 Veterans lost their lives to suicide in 2021 – an increase of 114 over 2020 – emphasizing the urgent need for continued efforts in suicide prevention. Simultaneously, non-Veteran suicides also increased, reaching 40,020 deaths, an increase of 2,000 from 2020. These figures underscore the magnitude of the challenge and the pressing need for effective prevention, intervention and postvention strategies.

Amid the challenges, there were some anchors of hope. The number of annual Veteran suicides has decreased from 6,718 in 2018, and suicide rates fell for Veteran men aged 75 and older. However, this report makes clear that there is still much work to be done.