World Theory: Gun related suicide among young people aged 10 to 24 in the United States continues to rise, with an average age of just over 20 at the end of their lives
On September 6th, China Daily reported that a new research report found that the number of suicides among people aged 10 to 24 in the United States continues to rise, with more and more people choosing to end their lives with guns.
Screenshot of US News&World Report website report
Researchers point out that easy access to firearms means that suicide is often not only impulsive, but also deadly. A research team led by surgeon Stephanie Garcia from the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine in the United States wrote in a report, "Previous studies have identified the relationship between readily available firearms at home and suicide."
They also added that new research suggests that "the mortality rate of gun suicide is on the rise in the population.". The average age of young people who die from gun suicide in the United States is just over 20 years old.
In this study, Garcia and her colleagues analyzed federal data on all types of suicide deaths among the population aged 10 to 24 from 2013 to the end of 2020. During this period, the total number of suicides in this age group exceeded 49500, with young males accounting for 79% and females accounting for 21%.
In addition, the researchers also calculated the number of years of life loss, which is the number obtained by subtracting the age of death from a person's life expectancy. According to this calculation, 44% of the total years of life loss caused by suicide among young people in the United States in 2013 were related to firearms. By 2020, this number had risen to 50%.
Researchers point out that overall, "our study found that suicide caused nearly 3 million years of life loss from 2013 to 2020," and "gun suicide alone caused over 1.3 million years of life loss during the study period.".
However, these numbers seem to only increase. Garcia's research team stated that in 2020, young people in the United States lost over 200000 years of life, and compared to previous years, gun related suicide incidents have significantly increased.
In addition, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States shows that the number of suicides in the United States reached a historic high in 2022, with 49449 suicides, of which 79.4% were male. In addition, gun related suicide accounted for 54.6% of the total, far exceeding other forms of suicide.
Since 2000, the suicide rate in the United States has been on the rise. In 2000, the number of reported suicides by US health agencies was 29350. Since then, the suicide rate has increased by 68.4%.
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