"Veteran Suicide Numbers Higher in the Northeast" news article
Source: Click here (**click to visit news article where you can see an interactive map showing the varying rates of suicide among differing states)
Rates of veteran suicide vary widely by state. Certain factors that make someone more susceptible to suicide, things like being over the age of 45, in a rural area, American Indiana/Alaska Native or White, people from areas of higher poverty and lower education, and access to firearms.
Many of those people can be found in the Northwest.
In 2014, the state of Montana had the highest suicide rate in the country. Idaho came in as sixth, while Washington was farther down on the list.
In the state of Washington, 13 percent of those who took their own life were in the military at some point. Since the year 2000, the suicide rate has been a much higher for veterans. In fact, the VA estimates 20 veterans die by suicide every day across the country. That’s one veteran every 72 minutes.
Just between 2012 and 2014, there were more than 3,000 suicides in Washington, and 700 of them were past or current military.
The age group most at risk is those over the age of 65, in both Washington and Idaho, which generally have very different demographics.
In Washington, more than half of those veterans who committed suicide were over the age of 65, while in Idaho, it was a full 65 percent.
So what puts a veteran specifically at risk?
Exposure to extreme stress, physical or sexual assault, service-related injury, TBI, PTSD, lower rank or a demotion, access to firearms, life transitions, LGBT status.
