Nearly half of those serving in the U.S. military have contemplated suicide since joining the forces, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Members 2022 report.
This is a huge jump up from the nine percent that said they had thought about taking their own life before signing up.
The following chart, from Statista’s Anna Fleck, illustrates how the United States has a suicide crisis on its hands, which seemingly is not showing signs of abating. If anything, it has worsened, with the 2014 data recording a slightly lower 31 percent of veterans having experienced suicidal thoughts.
According to a 2021 report by Thomas Howard Suitt at Boston University, suicide rates among the active military personnel and veterans of the post 9/11 wars have been climbing in recent years. While the same trend can be said of the general public, in the military and veterans spheres it’s happening at an even faster rate.
Read more: The US Military Suicide Crisis
