Suicide Numbers

According to the World Health Organization, more than 800,000 people die by suicide every year – that’s one person every 40 seconds. I'm nearly 40 years old. This might mean, during my lifetime, approximately 32 million* people have died by suicide worldwide. 

• HIV/AIDS has claimed more than 39 million lives so far worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. There were 1.5 million deaths attributed to AIDS in 2013.
• With more than 600,000 Confederate and Union soldier fatalities, the Civil War cost more American soldiers their lives than any other war fought by Americans since the Revolutionary War, according to American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics.  
• The World Health Organization reported 8.2 million people died of cancer in 2012 worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control reports 40,931 women and 443 men in the United States died from breast cancer in 2011.
• Centers for Disease Control estimates that from the 1976-1977 season to the 2006-2007 flu season, flu-associated deaths ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people. The vast majority of flu-associated deaths occurred in those more than 65 years old.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, each year, more than 39,000 Americans die by suicide, nearly 500,000 people are treated in U.S. emergency departments for self-inflicted injuries, and 1 million adults report making a suicide attempt. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.

* I realize 800K would not be a static number unrelated to population through the decades. But, my math skills are lacking and I'd never be able to figure out a more realistic number.

(c) 2014 My Suicidology

First Suicide

I don't remember when I first heard the word suicide or learned that death by suicide meant a person willfully killed himself. However, I do remember one of the first times I gave the concept of suicide a good deal of thought. 

I was still a child myself when I watched a story on television about a boy's suicide. This boy knew his family was struggling financially. He figured, if he died, his family would have one less mouth to feed. I don't remember if the account I watched on television was a news story. Perhaps, it was one of those paid-programs seeking sponsors for children in third-world countries.  

Somehow, I'd already been given the impression or fed information that those who die by suicide go to hell. I remember asking my mom if this boy would go to hell because he killed himself. I didn't think he should because he was just trying to help his family. I'm not sure how my mom replied. But, I remember thinking, perhaps I even said, I'd never kill myself.

I don't know why I decided I'd never kill myself. I don't know if it was because I was afraid of going to hell or if I was afraid of hurting my family or if it was because I reasoned I had no good reason to kill myself like the boy in the story. I don't know. I don't remember.

(c) 2014 My Suicidology