Data are reported for the incidence and victim characteristics in the suicides and homicides of youth (ages 10-17) in 2017, and the trend in such youth deaths is reported for the period 1990 through 2017.
The data source is the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC's) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). In 2017, the number of homicides of youth in the United States was approximately 800, and the number of suicides of youth was approximately 1,750. Since 2009, the annual number of youth suicide victims has exceeded the number of youth homicide victims. In 2017, a larger proportion of youth suicide victims than youth homicide victims were younger than age 15, were female, and were white. The use of firearms in youth suicides has decreased since 1995, and suicide by suffocation increased. Suicide rates more than doubled for each race/ethnicity group between 2007 and 2017. Rates for American Indian/Alaska Natives and Asian/Pacific Islanders are not shown, because the number of deaths were too small to calculate reliable rates.