CDC: Pandemic brought highest rates of teen homicide, young adult suicide since 2001 

The homicide rate for older teenagers in the United States and the suicide rate for those in their early 20s rose during the pandemic to the highest it has been in at least 20 years, according to research published Thursday.

A study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed homicide and suicide rates among those ages 10-24 from 2001-21.

The largest annual increase in homicide rates for those aged 15-19 was a 38 percent increase between 2019 and 2020.

In 2020, the rate of homicide deaths among older teenagers was 12.3 per 100,000, a significant jump from the 8.9 per 100,000 rate in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 — which is the most recent data available — the rate of homicide deaths was 12.8 per 100,000 in the age group.

A similar jump was seen when CDC researchers looked at suicide rates for people ages 20-24. The largest annual increase between 2001-21 came in 2021, when suicide rates among those in their early 20s jumped 9 percent to 19.4 suicide deaths per 100,000.

The researchers added that while suicide rates among that age group continually increased over the 20-year period, homicide rates among the same age group increased only between 2014-20, remaining unchanged in 2021.

“In 2021, suicide and homicide were the second and third leading causes of death, respectively, for people aged 10-24 and among the top four leading causes of death for the individual age groups 10-14, 15-19 and 20-24,” the CDC research said.

The researchers noted that the suicide rates among those ages 10-14 and 20-24 exceeded the homicide rates for those age groups in 2021, the second year of the pandemic.

From 2001-21, suicide rates in the United States jumped by about 36 percent, according to the CDC. In 2021, there were more than 48,000 suicide deaths among all ages throughout the United States, according to CDC data.