suicide
statistics
(The Trevor Project)
Why Care?
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Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 14, and the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) young people are at significantly increased risk.
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LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020).
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The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people (ages 13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.
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The Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People found that 41% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including roughly half of transgender and nonbinary youth.
“One accepting adult decreases the risk of suicide by 40% for LGBTQ+ young people.”
Conversion Therapy Statistics
(The Williams Institute)
This report updates conversion therapy estimates published by the Williams Institute in January 2018.Conversion therapy, also known as sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts, is a practice grounded in the belief that being LGBT is abnormal. It is intended to change the sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression of LGBT people.1 Conversion therapy is practiced by some licensed professionals in the context of providing health care and by some clergy or other spiritual advisors in the context of religious practice.2 Efforts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity are associated with poor mental health3, including suicidality.4 As of June 2019, 18 states, the District of Columbia, and a number of localities have banned health care professionals from using conversion therapy on youth.
The Williams Institute estimates that:
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698,000 LGBT adults (ages 18-59)5 in the U.S. have received conversion therapy, including about 350,000 LGBT adults who were subjected to the practice as adolescents.
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16,000 LGBT youth (ages 13-17) will receive conversion therapy from a licensed health care professional before they reach the age of 18 in the 32 states that currently do not ban the practice.
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10,000 LGBT youth (ages 13-17) live in states that ban conversion therapy and have been protected from receiving conversion therapy from a licensed health care professional before age 18.
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An estimated 57,000 youth (ages 13-17) across all states will receive conversion therapy from religious or spiritual advisors before they reach the age of 18.