4 ms·

About 1.9 million deaths in the US. About 45K or 2% of those are suicides. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.

About 1.9 million deaths in the US. About 45K or 2% of those are suicides. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm And people here are saying that is the national emergency? The US is nowhere near the top in terms of suicide rates in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r... If we really wanted to help people, we'd focus more on heart disease, diabetes, etc. But I guess we don't want to tackle the food industry, soda industry, process food industry, etc. I don't who is behind all the "alcohol, drugs, suicide" scaremongering. But I have a sneaking suspicion that the "solution" will be pump people with more pharmaceuticals. I'm not saying suicide is not a terrible thing, but it certainly isn't a "national emergency" compared to heart disease, strokes, cancer or diabetes.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Interesting that Soviet republics figure so heavily on the top of that list. And they uniformly have huge male:female ratios. Also that Japan, notorious for a suicide culture, is only 30th. Maybe if they counted all the murders made to look like suicide, they would be further up.
mbostleman 8y ago
It's about what's trending. Recent stats on US life expectancy showed an overall drop. Heart disease and (I think) cancer trended down (as it has for years), but that was more than offset by the up trend in suicide and overdoses. I'm not sure what the definition of "emergency" is, but I'd say the data shows suicide and OD are the top concerns at the moment.
- tha_nose 8y ago
  The data clearly doesn't not say what you claim. As for trending? I wouldn't call anything going from 1.9% of deaths to 2% of deaths as trending. Focusing on the 2% rather than the 98% seems also doesn't seem to be sensible.
  - tdfx 8y ago
    OP is saying the rate of change is cause for alarm, not the overall distribution.
DanBC 8y ago
Suicide is a mostly preventable death. Other countries are seeing reducing rates of death by suicide. Why is the US seeing rising rates?
EamonnMR 8y ago
That would require people taking a hard look at themselves and their own habits, which won't happen. Hard to scare people with what they are familiar with (even if it's slowly Killing them.) See also: climate change.
sdinsn 8y ago
Pretty sure I lost some brain cells reading your comment > The US is nowhere near the top in terms of suicide rates in the world. ... Is that really an argument against action? > compared to heart disease, strokes, cancer or diabetes. Because studies have shown that making a small effort will make a large difference in suicide rates... It would be great if we could cure cancer, but we just can't.
- tha_nose 8y ago
  It isn't an argument against action. It is an argument against exaggeration and hyperbole though. What studies are you referring to? In any case, a small change in suicide rates would affect a dozen people. A small change in heart disease, cancer and diabetes would affect tens of thousands of people. It would be great to cure cancer, but we don't have to cure cancer to affect change. We can't cure suicide either. There will always be suicide. But we know that less processed food, less sugary drinks, etc leads to less heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. Even a slight reduction in heart disease, cancer and diabetes would save more people than all the people who die of suicide. Simple things like less soda, less microwave dinners and more walking could mean hundreds of thousands of less deaths, but I guess we can focus on the few thousand suicides and the possibility of saving dozens of lives. I'm sorry that facts, stats and reality made you lose a few brain cells.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

Interesting that Soviet republics figure so heavily on the top of that list. And they uniformly have huge male:female ratios. Also that Japan, notorious for a suicide culture, is only 30th. Maybe if they counted all the murders made to look like suicide, they would be further up.

mbostleman 8y ago

It's about what's trending. Recent stats on US life expectancy showed an overall drop. Heart disease and (I think) cancer trended down (as it has for years), but that was more than offset by the up trend in suicide and overdoses. I'm not sure what the definition of "emergency" is, but I'd say the data shows suicide and OD are the top concerns at the moment.

tha_nose 8y ago
The data clearly doesn't not say what you claim. As for trending? I wouldn't call anything going from 1.9% of deaths to 2% of deaths as trending. Focusing on the 2% rather than the 98% seems also doesn't seem to be sensible.
- tdfx 8y ago
  OP is saying the rate of change is cause for alarm, not the overall distribution.

DanBC 8y ago

Suicide is a mostly preventable death. Other countries are seeing reducing rates of death by suicide. Why is the US seeing rising rates?

EamonnMR 8y ago

That would require people taking a hard look at themselves and their own habits, which won't happen. Hard to scare people with what they are familiar with (even if it's slowly Killing them.) See also: climate change.

sdinsn 8y ago

Pretty sure I lost some brain cells reading your comment > The US is nowhere near the top in terms of suicide rates in the world. ... Is that really an argument against action? > compared to heart disease, strokes, cancer or diabetes. Because studies have shown that making a small effort will make a large difference in suicide rates... It would be great if we could cure cancer, but we just can't.

tha_nose 8y ago
It isn't an argument against action. It is an argument against exaggeration and hyperbole though. What studies are you referring to? In any case, a small change in suicide rates would affect a dozen people. A small change in heart disease, cancer and diabetes would affect tens of thousands of people. It would be great to cure cancer, but we don't have to cure cancer to affect change. We can't cure suicide either. There will always be suicide. But we know that less processed food, less sugary drinks, etc leads to less heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. Even a slight reduction in heart disease, cancer and diabetes would save more people than all the people who die of suicide. Simple things like less soda, less microwave dinners and more walking could mean hundreds of thousands of less deaths, but I guess we can focus on the few thousand suicides and the possibility of saving dozens of lives. I'm sorry that facts, stats and reality made you lose a few brain cells.