Surveillance for Violent Deaths - National Violent Death Reporting System, 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2022.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional public health surveillance and registry report.
PubMed 40493548 · doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss7405a1
What was done
Data from the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) for the year 2022 were compiled by linking death certificates, coroner and medical examiner reports, and law enforcement records across all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Data represented statewide coverage in 47 states, DC, and Puerto Rico, and partial county-level coverage in California (68% of population), Florida (70%), and Texas (63%). Analyses categorized violent deaths by intent (suicide, homicide, legal intervention, unintentional firearm injury, and undetermined intent), demographics (age, sex, race/ethnicity), injury mechanism, location, and precipitating circumstances.
What was found
In the 50 states and DC, 72,127 fatal incidents involving 74,148 deaths were recorded: 60.6% were suicides, 30.2% homicides, 7.1% undetermined intent, 1.4% legal intervention, and <1.0% unintentional firearm injury. Suicide rates were higher in males than females (23.7 versus 6.1 per 100,000 population), peaking in males aged ≥85 years (56.6 per 100,000) and females aged 45–54 years (8.9 per 100,000), with non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons having the highest suicide rate (24.3 per 100,000). Firearms were the most common method for both suicides and homicides. Non-Hispanic Black males experienced the highest homicide rates; homicide victims were most frequently aged 20–24 years. In Puerto Rico (809 deaths across 727 incidents), 73.9% were homicides (male rate was 11.5 times higher than female rate, with firearms used in 93.6%) and 23.5% were suicides.
Why it matters
This report provides comprehensive, multisource surveillance on the demographics, mechanisms, and precipitating circumstances of violent deaths across the entire United States and Puerto Rico, establishing baseline epidemiological patterns to guide targeted violence and suicide prevention strategies.
Limits
Three populous states (California, Florida, and Texas) contributed data only from select counties covering 63%–70% of their populations rather than statewide data. Information on precipitating circumstances and suspect-victim relationships was missing for a subset of incidents (e.g., circumstances were known in 83.5% of suicides). The dataset relies on the completeness and accuracy of coroner, medical examiner, and law enforcement documentation, which can vary across jurisdictions.
Cited by
- supports Approximately 40,000 men per year die by suicide in the United States.