WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates that 22 former soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines kill themselves every day, but the real figure is believed to be much higher.
“In the second quarter of 2015, there were 71 suicides among service members in the active component, 20 suicides among service members in the reserve component and 27 suicides among service members in the National Guard,” the release read.
The Quarterly Suicide Report (QSR) summarizes confirmed suicide counts for all services and components during the months of April through July, and also includes total suicide counts for 2014, 2013 and 2012.
The VA acknowledges that that total number is based on a study of data collected from just 21 US states. Twenty-nine states that are unaccounted for include California and Texas, the two states with the largest veteran populations.
The VA has no accurate suicide figures later than 2010.
“Suicide rates within the veteran population often were double and sometimes triple the civilian suicide rate in several states,” News 21 reported in August 2013.
The news organization carried out a study of data from 2005 to 2011 and found that across 48 US states suicide was far more common among military veterans than among the general population.
