Native American Suicide Rates Drop 43% in New Mexico.
Newly published data from New Mexico shows a promising drop in deaths by suicide among the state’s Native American population.
The state saw a 43% decrease in Native American suicide rates from 2022 to 2023, according to the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) Center for Health Protection.
The decline outpaced the state’s overall 9% reduction in suicide rates during the same period.
(photo/UNM)According to the Centers for Disease Control, American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) experience suicide rates 91% higher than the general population.
In New Mexico, home to 23 federally recognized tribes, suicide rates among the Indigenous population climbed nearly 56% from 2009-2018.
In 2011, following several suicide clusters — deaths by suicide that occur in a community in a short span of time — involving Native youth, New Mexico passed a set of bills to create a clearinghouse of culturally-centered Native American suicide prevention resources. »