U.S. suicide rates show growing racial disparities: CDC

A man places flowers at a memorial site outside Chester Bennington's private residence in Palos Verdes, California, the United States, on July 21, 2017. Bennington, the lead singer of the rock band Linkin Park, committed suicide by hanging at home, at the age of 41, according to local media reports. (Xinhua/Zhao Hanrong)

The CDC's new analysis finds 2021's increase was worst among American Indian or Alaska Native people. Rates climbed 26 percent from 2018, from 22.3 to 28.1 per 100,000 people.

NEW YORK, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Suicide rates climbed significantly among American Indian, Black, and Hispanic people in 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as rates of suicide among White people fell for a third straight year, CBS News reported, citing a new federal analysis.

The authors of the analysis, published last week in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, were quoted as saying that their findings underscored disparities in the nationwide rise in suicides first reported last year by the agency.

The number and age-adjusted rate of suicides had begun falling in 2019 across the United States, but increased in 2021, climbing to nearly 2018's peak of 14.2 suicides per 100,000 people.

Now, the CDC's new analysis finds 2021's increase was worst among American Indian or Alaska Native people. Rates climbed 26 percent from 2018, from 22.3 to 28.1 per 100,000 people.

Rates also climbed significantly for Black Americans -- a 19.2 percent increase from 2018 -- and for Hispanic or Latino people, up 6.8 percent, according to CDC data.

Only one group saw a statistically significant decline in their age-adjusted suicide rate: non-Hispanic White people, whose rate dropped 3.9 percent, from 18.1 to 17.4 per 1000,000 people, the report said.