NEW YORK — The U.S. suicide rate dropped slightly last year from some of the highest levels ever reported, preliminary data suggests. Experts say it's hard to know exactly why, or whether the decline will continue.

A little over 48,800 suicide deaths were reported in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 500 fewer than the year before.

The overall suicide rate fell to 13.7 per 100,000 people.

Suicides rose for nearly two decades aside from a two-year drop around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then they shot up again, to more than 14 per 100,000 from 2021 to 2023.

Experts caution that suicide — the nation’s 10th leading cause of death in 2024 — is complicated and that attempts can be driven by a range of factors. Contri

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