Social Contagion: Suicide Rates Among Gen Z Have Spiked Over Past Decade

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Suicide rates among Gen Z adults have unnaturally increased in the U.S. over the past ten years according to new figures.

Axios Notes that there has been a 16.4 percent increase in suicides among the demographic between 2014-2024.

The locations where the rise is most prominent, the report notes are in the South and the Midwest, with black and Hispanic men, accounting for a huge 85 percent of the increase.

A Stateline analysis of data also shows that Georgia experienced the largest increase in suicide rates over the past decade, among 18 to 27-year-olds, with the state’s suicide rate in the age group increasing by a massive 64.9 percent.

North Carolina and Texas both saw a 41 percent increase in suicide rates, while Alabama had a 39 percent spike, and Ohio a 37 percent increase. 

Alaska recorded the highest suicide rate among Gen Z, standing at 49 percent per 100,000 people, an increase of more than a third since 2014.

Concerning data from @stateline_news showing a 2014-2024 rise in suicide in Gen Z young adults (born ~1997-2006), and mainly driven by increase rates among Black and Hispanic men.
X colleagues, what do you think is happening? pic.twitter.com/QoVTaoKPHH

— Victor Pereira-Sanchez, MD, PhD (@victorpsanchez) October 3, 2025

Suicide became the second-highest cause of death among young Hispanics over these years, surpassing homicide. And for young Asians, suicide became the number one cause of death.

Stateline notes that while men are far more likely to take their own lives, the rate for suicide among women has shot up “from about one-fifth of the rate for men to one-fourth in 2024.”

The report quotes American University professor Dave Marcotte, who notes that suicide rates among all age groups had been steadily falling for decades before beginning to rise in again in 2000.

Interestingly, while suicide rates for middle-aged people soon began to fall again, the rates among young people have just continued to increase.

Marcotte explained, “There’s likely no one magic answer to this. Future job prospects for this generation are not what they were for older generations. Today’s generation is not guaranteed a position in society that’s better than their parents. That’s one hypothesis.”

Psychology professor at San Diego State University Jean Twenge suggests that the huge uptake of social media is a likely factor, with those born after 1995 having become adults when smartphones became ubiquitous.

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