State bulletin finds Alaska Native youth suicide rate five times that of White youth

Alaska Native youth aged 10 to 18 died by suicide at 47 per 100,000 between 2016 and 2024, more than five times the rate of 9 per 100,000 among White youth, the Alaska Department of Health reported Monday in Bulletin No. 11 from its Section of Epidemiology. Youth of another race died at 14 per 100,000. Attempts showed a wider gap: 1,098 per 100,000 among Alaska Native youth, against 289 for White youth and 261 for youth of another race.

Across 2016 through 2025, the bulletin counted 174 youth suicide fatalities and 4,101 attempts among Alaskans aged 10 to 18, an overall attempt-to-fatality ratio of 24 to 1. The median age of those who died was 16. The 2025 fatality rate was the highest of the previous 10 years. Alaska's youth suicide rate is nearly six times the national average, the department said, citing federal mortality data.

Differences by sex were stark. Females accounted for 3,152 attempts and 33 fatalities. Males accounted for 949 attempts and 141 fatalities. That works out to an attempt-to-fatality ratio of 96 to 1 for females against 7 to 1 for males. About 30% of females who died had a prior attempt, compared with 17% of males. Firearms predominated in male fatalities, ligature hanging in female fatalities, and poisoning was the most common method in attempts for both sexes.

The department said the disproportionate burden among Alaska Native youth calls for prevention that is culturally responsive and community informed. It urged evidence-based practices including screening, safety planning, follow-up and care coordination through frameworks such as Zero Suicide. Federal health officials frame the disparity within longstanding structural inequities facing American Indian and Alaska Native communities, not individual deficiencies.

Attempts were counted only through health care encounters, the department cautioned, so the true number is likely higher. The data also omit individual risk factors such as health diagnoses or substance use.

The disparity is long documented. A state bulletin covering 2012 through 2017 found American Indian and Alaska Native people had the highest suicide rate by race, 46.6 per 100,000. The 2024 Alaska Vital Statistics Annual Report recorded 222 suicide deaths statewide and an age-adjusted rate of 51.8 for Alaska Native and American Indian people. The Tanana Chiefs Conference holds a $735,000 federal grant for rural prevention work. Alaska News has previously covered a Toksook Bay documentary on community healing.

Researchers argue rate comparisons alone miss what protects youth. The Qungasvik project, developed at the Center for Alaska Native Health Research, builds prevention around hunting, dancing and storytelling rather than clinical treatment. The Alaska Native Collaborative Hub for Research on Resilience has engaged 64 remote and rural communities. At an April 21 hearing of the state House Tribal Affairs Committee, Polly Andrews described that approach: "Our programs are rooted in culture."

The department urged youth and families in crisis to call, text or chat 988.