Surveillance for Violent Deaths - National Violent Death Reporting System, 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2022.

Abstract

Problem/condition: In 2022, approximately 24,000 persons died of homicide and approximately 49,000 persons died of suicide in the United States, according to the National Vital Statistics System. This report summarizes data from CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) on suicides, homicides, legal intervention deaths, unintentional firearm injury deaths, and deaths of undetermined intent that occurred in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in 2022. Results are reported by sex, age group, race and ethnicity, method of injury, type of location where the injury occurred, circumstances of injury, and other selected characteristics. In contrast to the 2021 NVDRS report, which collected data from a subset of states and included suicide data for persons aged ≥10 years, this report includes data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and includes suicide data for all ages.

Period covered: 2022.

Description of system: NVDRS collects data from death certificates, coroner and medical examiner reports, and law enforcement reports. This report includes data collected for violent deaths and suicides that occurred in 2022. Data were collected from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. A total of 47 states had statewide data, three states had data from counties representing a subset of their population (32 California counties, representing 68% of its population; 32 Florida counties, representing 70% of its population; and 13 Texas counties, representing 63% of its population), and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico had jurisdiction-wide data. NVDRS collates information for each death and links deaths that are related (e.g., multiple homicides, homicide followed by suicide, or multiple suicides) into a single incident.

Results: For 2022, NVDRS collected information on 72,127 fatal incidents involving 74,148 deaths that occurred in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, data were collected for 727 fatal incidents involving 809 deaths in Puerto Rico, which were analyzed separately. Of the 74,148 deaths that occurred in 50 states and the District of Columbia, the majority (60.6%) were suicides, followed by homicides (30.2%), deaths of undetermined intent (7.1%), legal intervention deaths (1.4%) (i.e., deaths caused by law enforcement and other persons with legal authority to use deadly force acting in the line of duty, excluding legal executions, without denoting the lawfulness or legality of the circumstances surrounding the death), and unintentional firearm injury deaths (<1.0%). Of the 809 deaths that occurred in Puerto Rico, 73.9% were homicides and 23.5% were suicides.Demographic patterns and circumstances varied by manner of death. In the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the suicide rate was higher for males than for females (23.7 versus 6.1 per 100,000 population). The suicide rate for males was highest for those aged ≥85 years (56.6), whereas for females, the suicide rate was highest for those aged 45-54 years (8.9). In addition, non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons had the highest suicide rates among all racial and ethnic groups (24.3). Among both males and females, the most common method of injury for suicide was a firearm. Among all suicide victims, when circumstances were known (83.5%), suicide was most often preceded by a mental health or substance use-related problem or treatment, suicidal thoughts or plans, a recent or impending crisis, or depressed mood.The homicide rate was higher for males than for females. Among all homicide victims, the homicide rate was highest among persons aged 20-24 years compared with other age groups. Non-Hispanic Black or African American (Black) males experienced the highest homicide rate of any racial or ethnic group. Among all homicide victims, the most common method of injury was a firearm. When the relationship between a homicide victim and a suspect was known, the suspect was most frequently an acquaintance or friend for male victims and a current or former intimate partner for female victims. Homicide most often was precipitated by an argument or conflict, occurred in conjunction with another crime, or, for female victims, was related to intimate partner violence. Nearly all legal intervention deaths were among males, and the legal intervention death rate was highest among males aged 30-34 years. The legal intervention death rate was highest among AI/AN males, followed by Black males. A firearm was used in most legal intervention deaths. When circumstances were known for legal intervention deaths, the most frequent circumstances reported were the victim used a weapon in the incident and the victim was previously known to authorities.Other causes of death included unintentional firearm injury deaths and deaths of undetermined intent. Unintentional firearm injury deaths were most frequently experienced by males, non-Hispanic White (White) persons, and persons aged 15-19 years. These deaths most frequently occurred while the shooter was playing with a firearm or were precipitated by a person unintentionally pulling the trigger. The rate of deaths of undetermined intent was highest among males, particularly among AI/AN and Black males, and among adults aged 35-44 years. Poisoning was the most common method in deaths of undetermined intent, and opioids were detected in approximately 70% of decedents tested for those substances.In Puerto Rico, the homicide rate was 11.5 times higher for males than for females. Firearms were the most common method of injury in homicides (93.6%). When the relationship between the homicide victim and suspect was known, the suspect was most frequently a person known to the victim, but the exact relationship was unclear for male victims and was a current or former intimate partner for female victims. Among male victims, the most common precipitating circumstance was the victim was previously known to authorities (47.1%), whereas among female victims, the most common circumstance was intimate partner violence (29.8%). The suicide rate in Puerto Rico was also higher for males than for females. The most common method for suicide was hanging, strangulation, or suffocation (62.3%). A depressed mood or currently diagnosed mental health problem were frequent circumstances reported for both male and female suicide decedents.

Interpretation: This report provides a detailed summary of data from NVDRS on violent deaths and suicides that occurred in 2022, the first year for which data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico met the NVDRS national data set inclusion criteria. States with large numbers of deaths that meet the NVDRS case definition (California, Florida, and Texas) are moving toward statewide coverage rather than including only a subset of deaths that occurred in their state. The suicide rate was highest among AI/AN and White males, whereas the homicide rate was highest among Black and AI/AN males. Intimate partner violence precipitated a large proportion of homicides among females. Mental health and substance use problems, previous awareness of the victim by authorities, intimate partner problems, interpersonal conflicts, and acute life stressors were primary precipitating circumstances for multiple types of deaths examined. These findings increase the knowledge base about the circumstances associated with these deaths and can assist public health authorities and their partners in developing and informing effective, data-driven approaches to violence prevention.

Public health action: The injury-related deaths described in this report are preventable, and data can inform public health action. NVDRS data are used to monitor the occurrence of these fatal injuries and assist public health agencies in developing, implementing, and evaluating programs, policies, and practices to reduce and prevent deaths. States and jurisdictions have used their Violent Death Reporting System data to inform violence prevention efforts and highlight where additional focus is needed. The findings in this report can be used to enhance prevention efforts.