Suicides of veterans increase in US

As the United States salutes its war veterans on Monday with parades and speeches, the country faces a rising suicide rate among veterans of all ages, despite suicide prevention being the veterans department's top priority.

More veterans committed suicide in 2017 than in previous years, according to a report released in September by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA. That includes the most recent analysis of veteran suicide data from 2005 to 2017.

Although the population of veterans declined by 18 percent from 2005 to 2017, more than 6,000 veterans died by suicide annually, according to the VA's 2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.