Suicides down

After rising for most of two decades, the overall suicide rate in the US dropped a bit in 2024, the latest year for data. More encouragingly, suicide attempts among teens has dropped much more decidedly. Young people between ages 12 and 17 attempted suicide 25 percent fewer times in 2024 than in 2021.

We don’t yet have a consensus on why the rate may be dropping, or how durable the trend is. Guns, the main tool for suicides, remain prevalent in the US. But teen depression, which has been rising rapidly since about 2012, seems to have eased slightly as well. A key question to explore: Are kids beginning to learn to manage smartphones better?

Sources: AP; Noah Smith’s Noahpinion newsletter