In recent days the sudden deaths of fashion designer, Kate Spade and celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain have brought a shocking and alarming statistic to the front of American minds. In a press release the CDC reports that suicide rates are up thirty percent since 1999.

In 2016 alone, nearly 45,000 people (aged 10-years or older) died by suicide. This makes the tenth leading cause of death and one of the big three that is still on the rise. In a map release by the CDC, it showed all fifty states and the rates that suicides had risen since 1999. In the graphic, twelve states showed an increase in suicide by thirty-eight to fifty-eight percent, twenty-five states in total hold a suicide rate over thirty percent. Those numbers are what is baffling CDC officials and many Americans.