While deaths jumped 17.7 percent overall in the U.S. last year, suicides decreased for the third consecutive year, according to preliminary CDC data published in JAMA.
Total deaths by suicide decreased 5.6 percent, from 47,511 in 2019, to 44,834 in 2020, according to the data.
COVID-19 represented the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. last year, behind heart disease and cancer. Suicide was the 12th-eading cause of death in 2020.
The data is based on information from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System, which collects and documents annual mortality statistics from death certificates.
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