Provisional numbers and rates of suicide by month and demographic characteristics: United States, 2021

Objectives—This report presents provisional numbers of deaths due to suicide by month and demographic characteristics (age and sex) for 2021 and compares them with final numbers for 2020. Age-adjusted and age-specific suicide rates are presented by sex and compared with final 2020 rates. Methods—Data are based on 99% of all 2021 death records received and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of May 15, 2022. Comparisons are made with final 2020 data. Deaths due to suicide were identified using International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision underlying cause-of-death codes U03, X60–X84, and Y87.0. Results—The provisional number of suicides in 2021 (47,646) was 4% higher than in 2020 (45,979). The provisional age-adjusted suicide rate also was 4% higher in 2021 (14.0 per 100,000 standard population) than in 2020 (13.5). The monthly number of suicides was lower in 2021 than in 2020 for January, February, and July, and higher in all other months. The largest percentage difference between monthly numbers for 2020 and 2021 occurred in October, where the provisional number in 2021 (4,211) was 11% higher than in 2020 (3,781). The age-adjusted suicide rate was 3% higher in 2021 than in 2020 for males (22.7 compared with 22.0). The 2% increase in the age-adjusted suicide rate for females (5.6 in 2021 compared with 5.5 in 2020) was not statistically significant. Suicide rates increased for males aged 15–24, 25–34, 35–44, and 65–74. For females, all age-specific rates were statistically unchanged between 2020 and 2021.