Overall suicides in the U.S. military were down just under 10% in 2013 over the year before, although there was slight increase (5%) among reservists and those not on active duty, new data from the Department of Defense shows.

With the wind-down in Afghanistan well under way, the gap between casualties and suicides grew even more dramatically, now nearly 4-1 vs. just under 2-1 the year before. (See chart above).

The data was part of the extensive annual “Suicide Event Report” that is put together by the National Center for Telehealth & Technology. The latest report covered calendar year 2012, while a news release about the report include top-level data for 2013. (Access a PDF of that report and earlier years back to 2008 here).

The U.S. Army halted what had been monthly updates of its suicide data after November data was posted in December. Reports suggest the Army is changing its methodology and will move to a quarterly instead of monthly release.

The Marines and Navy have, and continue to, release data each month, often updating the earlier month’s data. In 2013, Navy and Marine suicides fell, while attempted suicides by Marines jumped, based on the monthly data release.

For the Army in 2013, total suicides were on the decline but the percentage that were reservists had increased as a percentage of all suicides, from 40% to 50%. That data does not include December statistics, which have yet to be released.

There was a potential suicide on average every 1.2 days for active duty and inactive reserves combined, about same as a year ago. For inactive reserves, however, a potential suicide every 3.1 days a year ago is now every 2.3 days. Among active duty, it’s one every 2.4 days vs. 2.1 days in the first half of 2012.

The rise in suicides among inactive reserves compared to active duty began in late 2012 and has continued almost each month for most of this year. For June, inactive reserves were again lower than active duty, 8 vs. 14. The increase is not necessarily surprising given the recent drawdown in troops in Afghanistan and declines in active duty personnel.

The table below shows year-to-date data for this year and 2012.

[field name=”ytd-june”]

SOURCE: National Security Zone analysis and aggregation of Pentagon data.

Each month, the Army reports potential suicides for the previous month, broken down by active duty and inactive reserves (Army National Guard and Army Reserves), and by number confirmed and still under investigation. Each release updates numbers from the previous month’s release, and includes a running year-to-date total, as well as annual totals for the previous year. The latter are updated during the first months of the following year to reflect additional confirmations.

Review and download our archived monthly and annual data on military suicides.

Through May, 52% of total potential suicides for the year involved inactive reserves. Through May 2012, that number was 37%.

The number of inactive reserve potential suicides had exceeded active duty every month since November of 2012, except for January. May’s numbers, released last week, showed a slight edge again for active duty — 12 active duty and 10 inactive reserves.

In aggregate so far this year, there have been 14 fewer total active duty potential suicides reported than at the same point in 2012, and 24 more inactive reserve — a 52% increase.

The chart below shows year-to-date, running totals reported each month.

Given the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan, it is not necessarily surprising that there has been a decline in the number of active duty suicides. Month-by-month totals for all active duty and inactive reserves actually enlisted were not immediately available to compare against the suicide data.

Each month, the Army reports potential suicides for the previous month, broken down by active duty and inactive reserves (Army National Guard and Army Reserves), and by number confirmed and still under investigation. Each release updates numbers from the previous month’s release, and includes a running year-to-date total, as well as annual totals for the previous year. The latter are updated during the first months of the following year to reflect additional confirmations.

Progress in determining whether potential suicides were in fact suicides appears to have come to a standstill in recent months. During March, April and May, no potential suicides among inactive reserves were confirmed as having been suicides and for May, the same was true for active duty incidents. There has not been a streak like that in the past two years; typically, a month in which there are no confirmed suicides is updated the next month to show at least some confirmations.

Asked whether there might be a change in the investigation process or other factors that may be delaying confirmations or closure, a Pentagon spokesman would only say “There is no timeline for closure of investigations.”

The data for May was released nearly a month later than usual by the Pentagon, although a spokesman said the data for June will be released in the last week of this month — generally in the usual time frame.

The chart below shows potential inactive duty reserve suicides (in red) eclipsing active duty (blue).

Sexual assaults have been the most prominent military story in recent months, somewhat eclipsing attention to military suicides, which had been drawing high interest because of large increases — and a key metric that showed more troops were dying of suicide than on the battlefield.

The Google Trends graphic below shows the rising interest on that search engine in military sexual assaults compared to military suicides.