Abstract
Problem/condition
In 2023, approximately 23,000 persons died of homicide and 49,000 persons died of suicide in the United States, according to the National Vital Statistics System. This report summarizes data from CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) on violent deaths and suicides that occurred in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in 2023.Period covered
2023.Description of system
NVDRS collects data from death certificates, coroner and medical examiner records, and law enforcement reports. This report includes data collected from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Forty-seven states had statewide data, three additional states had data from counties representing a subset of their population (31 California counties, representing 74.1% of its population; 38 Florida counties, representing 59.3% of its population; and 13 Texas counties, representing 62.9% of its population), and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico had jurisdiction-wide data. NVDRS collates information for each death and links deaths that are related (e.g., multiple homicides, homicide followed by suicide, or multiple suicides) into a single incident.Results
For 2023, NVDRS collected information on 70,133 fatal incidents involving 72,093 deaths. The deaths recorded in NVDRS accounted for 91.6% of all homicides, legal intervention deaths, suicides, unintentional firearm injury deaths, and deaths of undetermined intent in the United States in 2023. In addition, information was collected for 671 fatal incidents involving 730 deaths in Puerto Rico. Data for Puerto Rico were analyzed separately.Of the 72,093 deaths that occurred in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the majority (62.4%) were suicides, followed by homicides (28.5%), deaths of undetermined intent that might be due to violence (6.9%), legal intervention deaths (1.5%) (i.e., deaths caused by law enforcement and other persons with legal authority to use deadly force acting in the line of duty, excluding legal executions), and unintentional firearm injury deaths (Interpretation
This report summarizes NVDRS data on violent deaths and suicides that occurred in 2023. The suicide rate was highest among AI/AN and White males, whereas the homicide rate was highest among Black males. Intimate partner violence precipitated a large proportion of homicides of females. Mental health and substance use problems, previous awareness of the victim by authorities, intimate partner problems, interpersonal conflicts, and acute life stressors were the primary precipitating circumstances for multiple types of deaths examined.Public health action
The injury-related deaths described in this report are preventable, and data can guide public health action. NVDRS data are used to monitor the occurrence of these fatal injuries and assist public health agencies in developing, implementing, and evaluating programs, policies, and practices to reduce and prevent deaths. Violent death reporting system data are helping states identify disproportionately affected groups and implement targeted prevention strategies, including youth suicide-focused analyses in Maryland and veteran suicide-focused initiatives in Michigan and Connecticut that guided statewide partnerships, crisis line outreach, and mental health service expansion.