Minnesota's Youth Suicide Rate Is Higher Than U.S. Average

The Minnesota Department of Health is working with community partners in five regions of the state to reduce youth suicides, the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24. In 2016, 111 Minnesotans between ages 10 and 24 died of suicide.

Minnesota has a higher rate than the U.S. average (10.2 per 100,000 versus 9.6 per 100,000) for this age group.

“By focusing on the goal of zero youth suicides, we want to highlight that these tragedies are preventable,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said in a statement. “We believe that by working together with communities we can and must do more to help young people facing severe depression or other mental health crises.”

The Minnesota Department of Health received a federal grant to invest $3.6 million in comprehensive suicide prevention for youth in the following regions:

• Northwestern region (Kittson, Marshall, Mahnomen, Norman, Pennington, Polk and Red Lake counties).
• Brainerd region (Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd and Wadena counties).
• Hennepin County.
• Southwestern region (Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Redwood and Yellow Medicine counties).
• Great River – Gichiziibi region (Becker, Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard and Itasca counties).
• Red Lake, Leech Lake, White Earth, Lower Sioux, Upper Sioux, Little Earth and U.S. Indian Health Services.

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