Active-duty military suicides increase despite prevention efforts

More service members died by suicide in 2023 than the year before, according to figures released by the Pentagon on Thursday.

The Pentagon's Annual Report on Suicide in the Military found that 523 service members died by suicide in 2023, an increase from 493 during the previous year. The Total Force suicide rate was 9% higher than in 2022. The active-duty suicide rate was about 28 suicides for every 100,000 service members in 2023, according to the report.

The number of active-duty troops who died by suicide increased to 363 from 331. Active Component suicide rates have increased since 2011, according to the 66-page report.

Active Component suicide rates were similar to the larger U.S. population in most years between 2011-2023, after accounting for differences in age and sex, according to the report.

Most service members who died by suicide were young, enlisted men, according to the report. Men accounted for 93.4% of the total suicides.

Guns were the most common method of suicide death for service members (65% for the Active Component) and family members (61% for spouses and 43% for dependents).

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III said one military suicide was too many. He called for the military community to continue with prevention efforts.

"The findings urgently demonstrate the need for the Department to redouble its work in the complex fields of suicide prevention," he said in a statement.

Austin said the Pentagon will continue to invest in life-saving efforts, including incentivizing gun safes.

"The Department is focused on long-term, sustained initiatives to prevent suicide," he said. "The Department is taking a comprehensive, integrated approach to increasing protective factors and decreasing suicide risk."

Austin established the Suicide Prevention Response and Independent Review Committee in 2022 to conduct a review of clinical and non-clinical suicide prevention and response programs. That review provided more than 100 recommendations, 20 of which have been implemented. In 2023, 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.

Call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. The Lifeline provides 24-hour, confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.