Suicide rates skyrocket more than 16% among Gen Z Americans from 2014-2024

Suicide rates among Gen Z adults are on the rise in America, especially in the South and the Midwest. Much of that increase is among black and Hispanic men, at 85 percent of the increase between 2014 and 2024.

 

Overall, around the US, there has been a 16.4 percent increase in suicides among Gen-Z adults, per Axios. Additionally, according to a Stateline analysis of data, Georgia experienced the largest increase in suicide rates between 2014 and 2024 among 18 to 27-year-olds, with the state’s suicide rate in the group increasing by 64.9 percent.

This was followed by North Carolina and Texas, which both saw a 41 percent increase in suicide rates, Alabama (up 39 percent), and Ohio (up 37 percent). Alaska has the highest suicide rate in the age group, at 49 percent per 100,000 people, up 34 percent from 2014.

Suicides increased among Asian, Black, Hispanic, and Native young adults, with young Natives having the highest rate of suicides both in 2014 and 2024. Among young Hispanics, suicide became the second-highest cause of death, surpassing homicide. For young Asians, suicide became the number one cause of death. Suicide rates among black young adults surpassed those of white young adults between 2014 and 2024.

Men have the highest suicide rates, with black and Hispanic men accounting for 85 percent of the total increase in suicides, but the rate for suicide among women is growing faster, "from about one-fifth of the rate for men to one-fourth in 2024," according to Stateline.

Dave Marcotte, a professor at American University in Washington, DC, noted that suicide rates for all age groups had been falling for decades before beginning to rise in 2000, and getting worse during the recession. He said that while suicide rates for middle-aged people fell again, the rates among young people continued to increase.

"There’s likely no one magic answer to this. Future job prospects for this generation are not what they were for older generations. Today’s generation is not guaranteed a position in society that’s better than their parents. That’s one hypothesis," Marcotte said.

Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, noted the increase on social media usage and how those born after 1995 are likely to have grown up with smartphones and social media.