VA Conducts Nation’s Largest Analysis of Veteran Suicide

July 08, 2016

News Type:  Weekly Spark, Weekly Spark Announcement

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has undertaken the most comprehensive analysis of veteran suicide rates in the United States, examining over 55 million veteran records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The effort extends VA’s knowledge from the previous report issued in 2010, which examined three million veteran records from 20 states. The analysis reveals that in 2014, an average of 20 veterans a day died by suicide. From 2001 to 2014, there was an 8.8% increase in suicide among veterans accessing care through VA, whereas there was a 38.6% percent increase in suicide among veterans not accessing care at VA. A fact sheet about suicide prevention has been made available on the VA website; the final report of the analysis will be released later in July. The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention has released a statement on the report, which includes a list of related resources.