The Department of Defense (DoD) released the DoD Annual Report on Suicide (ARSM) in the Military: Calendar Year (CY) 2023 today. The report provides annual data on suicide counts and rates among Service members and their dependents and outlines current and ongoing suicide prevention efforts across the Department.
Every death by suicide is a tragedy. That's why on May 7, 2022, Secretary Lloyd J. Austin established the Suicide Prevention Response and Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC) to conduct a review of clinical and non-clinical suicide prevention and response programs which provided over 100 recommendations. As a result of the SPRIRC recommendations, in September 2023, Secretary Austin announced a suicide prevention campaign plan across five lines of effort: fostering a supportive environment, improving the delivery of mental health care, addressing stigma and other barriers to care, revising suicide prevention training, and promoting a culture of lethal means safety with 83 enabling actions.
In the first year since Secretary Austin's establishment of the suicide prevention campaign plan, the Department has completed 20 SPRIRC recommendations and we have an aggressive path forward with unprecedented investments for FY25 to combat current trends. The Department will continue to build on these efforts to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to the wellness, health, and morale of our Force, and honor the memory of those lost to suicide.
About the data and findings in the Annual Report on Suicide in the Military:
- The Department assesses suicide rates - the number of suicide deaths per 100,000 people per year - to better understand changes or trends in suicidal behavior. Suicide rates fluctuate from year to year.
- In this context, 'not statistically significant' means that experts who analyze the data cannot be certain this is a true change and, instead, changes from one year to the next could be due to natural variations in data. "Statistically significant" means that there is high confidence we are observing a true change.
- In CY 2023, 523 Service members died by suicide, which is more than the previous year (493). The Total Force rate – which is the focus of the ASRM report – of suicide deaths per 100,000 Service members was 9 percent higher than in 2022.
- Active Component suicide rates have gradually increased since 2011. The 2023 Active Component rate is higher (12 percent) than 2022. This 12 percent increase was not statistically significant.
- Active Component suicide rates were similar to the U.S. population in most years between 2011-2023 after accounting for age and sex differences.
- Most Service members who died by suicide were young, enlisted men.
- In CY 2022, 146 family members died by suicide, including 93 spouses and 53 dependents. While every death by suicide is a tragedy, we are cautiously encouraged at this reduction from the previous year (CY 2021) when 165 family members died by suicide.
- Firearms were the primary method of suicide death for Service members (65 percent for the Active Component) and family members (61 percent for spouses and 43 percent for dependents).
The Department also considers overall trends and seeks a sustained reduction in rates over multiple years. For example:
- For the Reserve and Guard, there is no increasing or decreasing long-term trend between 2011 – 2022. Relative to 2022, the Reserve rate was 8 percent higher and the National Guard rate was 5 percent lower. In both cases, these differences were not statistically significant.
- For our military family members, the rate decreased by 9% in 2022 (most recent year available) versus 2021. This percentage change also was not statistically significant.
To ensure long-term change, we must continue to work toward sustained reductions over many years.
Service members and veterans who are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, and those who know a Service member or veteran in crisis, can call the Veterans/Military Crisis Line for confidential support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Call 988 and Press 1, text 838225, chat online at MilitaryCrisisLine.net.
The Annual Report on Suicide in the Military will be posted at: https://www.dspo.mil/
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