The US military experienced an increase in suicides in 2023, according to an annual Pentagon report released on Thursday.
The report noted that approximately 523 service members died by suicide, up from 493 in 2022. This troubling rise continues a broader trend since 2011, with Pentagon leaders expressing deep concern and pledging action.
During a press conference, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasized the urgent need to address the crisis. Austin said that the new data “urgently demonstrate the need for the Department to redouble its work in the complex fields of suicide prevention and postvention.” He added that the Department of Defense is working to address the problem, saying, “there’s still much more work to do, and we won’t let up.”
The number of military suicides decreased between 2021 and 2021, but rose again from 2022 to 2023. The report indicated that the rise was primarily among young, enlisted males, according to the Associated Press.
The Pentagon has described the increase as “not statistically significant,” claiming that “experts who analyze the data cannot be certain this is a true change and, instead, changes from one year to the next could be due to natural variations in data.”
Still, the report comes as the military has faced issues in recent years with recruitment and retention. Multiple branches have struggled to meet recruitment targets in recent years, and reports suggest some current service members and veterans are even discouraging enlistment.
The Pentagon’s data also comes alongside similar concerns over rising suicide rates among US Customs and Border Patrol agents, as reports from earlier this year found that the agency has seen an increase in suicides as well.
