Two stories about state suicide rates from States Newsroom venues in South Dakota and Minnesota.
From the South Dakota Searchlight.
Suicides in South Dakota decline for second consecutive year
By Joshua Haiar, South Dakota SearchlightSIOUX FALLS — South Dakota’s suicide rate has decreased for the second consecutive year, and officials think that means suicide prevention work in the state is making a difference.
The number of suicides fell from 202 in 2021 to 192 in 2022, and further to 180 in 2023. The statistics were shared by Department of Health Secretary Melissa Magstadt during the state’s third annual Suicide Prevention Conference.
Magstadt emphasized the importance of maintaining momentum.
“I’m telling you that the long game is starting to be a trend that we want to see continue,” Magstadt said.
She highlighted successes including lawmakers giving schools $2 million for K-12 suicide prevention work in 2023, and the state’s gun lock program distributing 3,500 locks since last July.
Magstadt also noted that South Dakota continues to face challenges, including the eighth-highest suicide rate in the country. The suicide rate among Native Americans in the state is 2.7 times higher than the average for all South Dakotans.
The conference underscored several efforts aimed at reducing suicides, including expanded mental health resources and public awareness campaigns.
Governor Kristi Noem made a surprise guest speaker appearance at the event. She shared that after a close friend committed suicide, she spent years wondering what she could have said or done differently.
“I remember thinking if somebody would just tell me what I should have done, or what I can do the next time, to have a different outcome, I would feel so much better,” she said.
When Noem became governor, a couple of members of her staff who’d recently lost family members to suicide asked if the administration could do something different to make a difference.
“That’s how this conference got started,” she said. “By people coming to me, and us sharing our personal stories and that people need to know a plan, or something to say, or how specific they should talk to individuals, or a tool in their toolbox that they could use.”
Some tools in the state are getting a lot of use, officials said.
The 988 crisis line, launched two years ago, provides immediate support for those in need. The line has received about 20,000 calls and texts, marking a 300% increase from the previous 1-800 number over the prior two years. Ninety-seven of the interactions were resolved without requiring further intervention. About a third were an immediate crisis; the rest were individuals seeking advice for themselves or loved ones.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, help is available anytime by dialing 988. The service is free and confidential.
From its sister publication in Minnesota.
Suicide ticks down, remains more common in Greater Minnesota
By Christopher Ingraham, Minnesota ReformerMinnesota’s suicide rate ticked downward in 2023, according to provisional data from from the state Department of Health.
Last year there were 815 suicide deaths in the state, down from 860 the year prior. Adjusting for population, the suicide rate fell from 14.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2022 to 14.1 in 2023.
Whether that decline represents a one-year blip or a durable trend remains to be seen. Like the rest of the country, Minnesota’s suicide rates have been steadily increasing over the past 20 years. The overall state suicide rate remains about one-third higher than it was back in 2003. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Minnesota’s suicide rate has closely tracked the national average for many years.
Suicide rates are much higher in parts of greater Minnesota than they are in the Twin Cities metro. In northeast Minnesota counties like Lake and Cook, the suicide rate is three or more times higher than it is in metro counties like Hennepin, Scott or Dakota. Suicide is also relatively uncommon across much of southern Minnesota.
A report earlier this year from the Center for Rural Policy and Development suggested poor access to mental health care, chronic pain from physically demanding jobs, lack of mental health education, stigma around mental health care, and the availability of firearms all factored into higher rural suicide rates.
Suicide rates in Minnesota are highest in middle age, the data show, and between three and four times higher for men than for women. Native Americans are considerably more likely to die from suicide than members of other ethnic groups.
Firearms are involved in nearly half of all Minnesota suicides, reflecting how easy access to guns makes suicide attempts more likely to succeed.
While the role of guns in suicide is a frequent subject of research, another common factor is less studied: alcohol. Close to a third of suicides in Minnesota involve alcohol, according to data previously published by the state. People who commit suicide are roughly twice as likely to have been using alcohol at the time of their death than any other class of drug, and excessive alcohol consumption tends to be more common in upper Midwestern states than elsewhere.
While the data on substance use only goes through 2021, it shows that cannabis is being more frequently used by people who commit suicide. Prior to 2019, marijuana use was typically recorded in fewer than 5% of suicide victims, but by 2021 it was a factor in 16% of suicides. Those numbers track with increasing rates of marijuana use in the state over the same period.
Both articles are republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Photo: Governor Kristi Noem speaks at the state’s third annual Suicide Prevention Conference on Aug. 8, 2024, in Sioux Falls. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
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