The suicide rate among Black people has risen during the past two years, largely due to systemic racism.

The Blacks’ suicide rate was 3,825 in 2022 compared with 3,692 in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What is causing this rise in suicide deaths? There are several factors.

The CDC listed these factors as causal in the increase in Black suicide: exposure to racism and anti-Blackness, untreated mental illness, stigma and myths held by some Blacks about mental health treatment, continuous exposure in some Black communities to crime and violence, and the associated cumulative trauma.

The Academic Journal “Social Science & Medicine ” reported that Black men entertain suicide when a friend or a distant relative has been killed by a cop.

When a Black person is killed by police, there have been on average, 0.0472 additional suicides per 100,000 Black Americans in the U.S. Census Division where the killing occurred. We did not find any spillover effects on other racial groups.

After declining in 2019 and 2020, suicide deaths increased by approximately 5% in the United States in 2021.

The provisional estimates released by the CDC today indicate that suicide deaths further increased in 2022, rising from 48,183 deaths in 2021 to an estimated 49,449 deaths in 2022, an increase of approximately 2.6%. 

American Indian and Alaska Native people reported a decline (down 6.1%) and people 10-24 years old (down 8.4%).