CDC: US Suicide Rate Increased 25% Between 1999 and 2016; there were 45000 US Suicides in 2016. 54% of Suicides Had No Diagnosed Mental Disorder. Prevention is most effective when close relatives and friends reach out to individuals who suffer loss.

Note that the percentages add up to more than 100% because there are overlapping causes.  In most cases, there is a crisis relating to loss of personal support and isolation.  This could be job loss, housing loss, relationship loss, or some other crisis.  29% of suicides could be ascribed to a definite crisis, either past or upcoming.  Many more less obvious crises were not recorded and relationship problems were a more obvious explanation.  Males account for 84% of suicides, mostly by shooting or strangulation.

Rates varied in the separate states by a factor of four:

Overall, the US experienced a 25% rise in the rate of suicides during that period, with individual states ranging from a 6% increase in Delaware to a nearly 58% increase in North Dakota, the researchers say.
All states except Nevada experienced an increase; although Nevada showed a 1% decrease in suicide, the state’s suicide rate was still high, ranging between 21 and 23 suicides for every 100,000 people through the years studied, the researchers say.
Suicide rates were four times greater in the highest state compared with the lowest when calculated on an annual basis during the most recent time period, 2014 to 2016.
Montana experienced about 29 suicides for every 100,000 people — the highest in the nation — compared with about seven people out of every 100,000 in the District of Columbia — the lowest. As a whole, the nation saw 15 people dying by suicide for every 100,000 in 2016.

—By Susan Scutti, CNN – CNN – Thursday, June 07, 2018

Suicides occur most frequently when people are isolated, poor, and live in northern states such as North Dakota.  Isolation and loss are the most common predictors of suicide.

Suicide prevention is most effective when professionals and close relatives reach out to individuals in distress.