Suicidal thoughts fell among young adults and rose among people over 50, and the national average hid both
SAMHSA's adult figure for serious thoughts of suicide showed no change from 2021 to 2025 at 5.3%. Underneath it, 18 to 25 year olds fell from 13.4% to 10.8% while 50 and older rose from 2.0% to 2.9%. Plans and attempts rose overall.
We have not finished checking this source. No judgement either way. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: NSDUH surveys the civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged 12 or older, so people in hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, on active duty or unsheltered are not in it; SAMHSA states that estimates from 2021 onward are not comparable with 2020 or earlier, so no line here runs back further than 2021. A survey answer is not a diagnosis. The death count is from the National Vital Statistics System, not from the survey, and covers all ages.
Significant findings
The report: "Among adults aged 18 or older, the percentage who had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year showed no change from 2021 to 2025 (Figure 71 and Table A.49B). In 2025, 5.3 percent of adults aged 18 or older (or 13.9 million people) had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Among young adults aged 18 to 25, the percentage who had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year decreased from 13.4 percent (or 4.5 million people) in 2021 to 10.8 percent (or 3.9 million people) in 2025."
For adults 50 or older the table runs 2.0, 2.4, 2.1, 2.5 and 2.9 percent, and the report ranks 2025 "then by adults aged 50 or older (2.9 percent or 3.5 million people)."
Plans: "Among adults aged 18 or older, the percentage who had made any suicide plans in the past year increased from 1.4 percent (or 3.6 million people) in 2021 to 1.8 percent (or 4.9 million people) in 2025." And for the oldest group: "the percentage of adults aged 50 or older who made a suicide plan in the past year increased from 0.3 percent (or 405,000 people) in 2021 to 1.1 percent (or 1.3 million people) in 2025."
Attempts: "Among adults aged 18 or older, the percentage who attempted suicide in the past year increased from 0.7 percent (or 1.8 million people) in 2021 to 0.9 percent (or 2.3 million people) in 2025 (Figure 73 and Table A.49B). Among adults aged 26 to 49 and adults aged 50 or older, the percentages who attempted suicide in the past year also increased from 2021 to 2025."
The report also carries the death count from the National Vital Statistics System: "in 2024, 48,824 people in the United States died by suicide."
Worth asking
A flat national line was two lines moving in opposite directions. The improvement is in the age group everyone was worried about; the deterioration is in the age group almost nobody screens. If you are over 50 and someone hands you a nine-question depression form, the ninth question is the one that matters, and the survey says the answer to it is changing.
Source
2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables (Tables A.49A and A.49B, suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts among adults, by age) — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (2026)
Read the source: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/report/2025-nsduh-detailed-tables
How this was scored
- Study design
- not recorded
- Funding
- not recorded
- Published in
- not recorded
- Sample size
- not recorded
- Preregistered
- not recorded
- Conflicts disclosed
- not recorded
- Independent of proponent
- not recorded
- Retracted
- No
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Published September 17, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
veisund rates this source "not yet assessed". We have not finished checking this source. No judgement either way. One caveat travels with that badge: NSDUH surveys the civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged 12 or older, so people in hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, on active duty or unsheltered are not in it; SAMHSA states that estimates from 2021 onward are not comparable with 2020 or earlier, so no line here runs back further than 2021. A survey answer is not a diagnosis. The death count is from the National Vital Statistics System, not from the survey, and covers all ages. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables (Tables A.49A and A.49B, suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts among adults, by age) — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (2026). The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.