The American Legion’s primary mission, Be the One, is a concentrated effort to save the lives of veterans and servicemembers at risk of suicide.
According to the Veterans Administration’s 2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, suicide was the 12th-leading cause of death for Veterans in 2022, and the 2nd-leading cause of death for Veterans under age 45.
A Few Key Points from the report include:
- In 2022, there were 271 suicides among female Veterans, a decrease of 80 from 2021, and 6,136 among male Veterans, an increase of 83 over the previous year.
- In 2022, unadjusted suicide rates were highest among Veterans between ages 18- and 34-years-old, followed by those aged 35-to 54-years-old.
- Among U.S. adults who died from suicide in 2022, firearms were more commonly involved among Veteran deaths (73.5%) than among non-Veteran deaths (52.2%).
- In 2022, the suicide rate among homeless Recent Veteran VHA Users was 110.2% higher than for those without diagnoses of homelessness. In 2022, the unadjusted suicide rate among Recent Veteran VHA Users with diagnoses of homelessness was 21.4% higher than in 2001, 5.9% higher than in 2020, and 19.1% lower than in 2021.
- Among Veterans in VHA care with documented contact with the Veterans Crisis Line in 2021,8 including calls, chats and texts, the suicide rate in the 30 subsequent days was 734.0 per 100,000 and the rate through 12 months was 303.3 per 100,000.
The full National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report Can be found here: