The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released its latest National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, with the most recent available data showing little change from the previous year in terms of annual suicides and daily averages.
The report analyzed veteran suicides between 2001-2023, with 2023 being the most recent year for which data is available. Suicides among veterans in 2023 totaled 6,398, a slight decrease from the 6,442 suicides in 2022. The average number of daily veteran suicides fell from 17.6 in 2022 to 17.5 in 2023.
The VA highlighted the report’s key findings:
- Roughly 61% of veterans who died by suicide in 2023 were not receiving VA health care in the last year of their lives.
- The suicide rate per 100,000 veterans was 35.2, marking the report’s highest level dating back to 2018 (33).
- The suicide rate per 100,000 veterans rose for both male and female veterans in 2023. That rate for women increased from 13.7 to 13.9, while for men it increased from 37.3 to 37.8.
- Suicide rates are elevated for veterans aged 18-34 years, leading to certain risk characteristics including health problems, homelessness and pain. Among veterans who died by suicide between 2021-2023 and whose deaths were reported by VA suicide prevention teams, the most frequently identified risk factor was pain.
Firearms continue to be the leading cause of veteran suicides. In 2022, 74% of veteran suicides involved firearms. That number was nearly equivalent in 2023, with firearms involved in 73.3% of veteran deaths by suicide—compared to 52.9% of suicides of non-veteran U.S. adults.
“Veteran suicide has been a scourge on our nation for far too long,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. “Most veterans who die by suicide were not in recent VA care, so making it easier for those who have worn the uniform to access the VA benefits they have earned is key.”
'Epidemic Levels' Not Subsiding
There were 47,711 U.S. adults who died by suicide in 2023, including 41,313 non-veterans and 2,498 Veterans Health Administration (VHA)- affiliated veterans. That’s the second-highest total number of suicides since 2018, trailing only the 47,891 from 2022.
Suicide advocacy groups and organizations expressed ambivalence with the data published on Feb. 5, finding that any lack of meaningful change in numbers between 2022 and 2023 indicates that suicide remains a real, consistent challenge that requires more resources and awareness.
One of those organizations is Stop Soldier Suicide, which says veterans face a 58% higher risk of suicide compared to the general population. More than 140,000 veterans have died by suicide since 2001, and it remains the second-leading cause of death among veterans aged 45 years and under.
There have been 22 years and counting of a minimum of 6,000 annual suicides.
Stop Soldier Suicide CEO Keith Hotle told Military.com that the numbers confirm a grim reality that cannot be normalized any longer, that veteran suicide “remains at epidemic levels.”
Behind every number is a life shaped by service, a family changed forever, and a nation that still has work to do. This moment demands clarity, not comfort. Good intentions are not enough. Awareness alone does not save lives.
“What saves lives is action grounded in evidence—treatments proven to reduce suicide risk, delivered at the right time, in ways veterans can access and trust," he added.
He said the challenge is applying scale, speed and commitment to an issue that has been in the public eye but isn’t getting much better. In fact, one may argue it’s getting worse.
Evidence-based treatment is the way to save lives, Hotle said. His organization accomplishes that by using data to identify risks earlier, tailoring clinical care to the individual, and closing the gaps between systems that too often leave veterans navigating crises alone.
“This is not about replacing existing efforts; it is about strengthening them with rigor and accountability,” he added.
A Vietnam-Era Perspective on Current Trends
American Addiction Centers (AAC), founded in 2007, is one of the nation’s largest networks of rehab facilities. They help veterans and non-veterans alike in attempting to curb suicidal tendencies and death by suicide.
Philip Van Guilder, a U.S. Army Veteran and AAC's director of community affairs, told Military.com that his overall takeaway—bred from the perspective of a Vietnam-era combat soldier and connections to the veteran community—is that the newest data is “encouraging” but “should be interpreted cautiously.”
The change is modest and suggests more of a stabilization than a sustained downward trend. In other words, progress may be occurring but it remains fragile. - Philip Van Guilder to Military.com
The most alarming data point to Van Guilder is the figure finding that 61% of veterans who died by suicide in 2023 were not receiving VA health care in the year prior to their death, which he said suggested that a significant portion of at-risk veterans are not being reached by existing VA-based prevention efforts.
“For many veterans, particularly those from earlier eras, this may reflect long-standing issues of access, trust, or simply not identifying themselves as connected to the VA system—even when eligible,” he said.
The increase in suicide rates per 100,000 veterans for both men and women, despite a slight decrease in total deaths, appears to reflect a shrinking overall veteran population with risk becoming more concentrated among certain groups rather than reduced overall risk, Van Guilder added.
“Another important and somewhat newer emphasis in the report is the role of pain as a leading risk factor,” he said. “This signals a broader understanding that veteran suicide is not solely driven by mental health diagnoses such as PTSD or depression, but also by chronic pain, declining health, sleep disruption and loss of function—issues that can erode quality of life and sense of purpose over time. This is especially relevant for aging veterans, including those from the Vietnam era.”
Mental Health Tools
The VA said a multi-pronged effort is necessary to curb these figures.
Some of these methods are as follows:
Community Involvement - Making suicide prevention everyone’s responsibility, including healthcare providers, friends, family, community organizations, employers and faith leaders. •
Addressing Risk and Protective Factors - VHA’s approach focuses on various risk drivers, such as mental health issues, substance misuse, financial strain, housing challenges and social isolation.
Data-Driven Strategies - VHA uses data to understand the problem, identify high-risk groups, and ensure prevention efforts are based on clear evidence for what is most effective for helping veterans.
There are also what the VA describes as “tiered prevention activities," broken down by primary, secondary and tertiary processes.
Primary processes promote overall health and well-being; secondary prevention involves early detection and intervention for those at higher risk through screening and training programs; and tertiary protection extends into immediate crisis intervention and ongoing care for those in acute crisis or who have attempted suicide before.
"Under President Trump, we are totally revamping the department’s approach to suicide prevention, with new leadership, a fresh focus on reaching those who need our help and—for the first time in VA history—a serious effort to track the efficacy of the hundreds of millions the department spends per year in this area to ensure we have real solutions, not just rhetoric," Collins said.
Cultural Shift Requires Continued Support
Van Guilder said the slight improvement reflected in the data could infer positive influences of veteran service and peer-support organizations such as PsychArmor, DAV, VFW, and the American Legion.
He said such groups often reach veterans who are not engaged with the VA, coming across critical information, resources and developing peer connections.
Their role in awareness, trust building and early intervention should be considered an important component of broader suicide prevention efforts.
There’s also the fact that mental health awareness is night and day between the Vietnam era, with today’s military commands routinely including therapeutic capabilities in operational environments. That cultural shift could pay dividends down the line, Van Guilder added, but efforts must continue in a variety of facets.
“Taken together, the data suggests that future prevention efforts need to extend beyond traditional VA settings and crisis-based interventions,” he said. “Greater engagement with veterans in community health care settings, increased integration of pain management and mental health care, and outreach strategies that resonate with older veterans may be critical.
“The report reinforces that suicide prevention is not only about responding to crises, but about addressing long-term health, pain and connection before veterans reach that point.”
