The U.S. suicide rate has fallen after years of hovering at some of the highest levels ever reported, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic — the largest annual decline in at least four decades.

NEW YORK – The U.S. suicide rate fell slightly last year, the first annual decline in more than a decade, according to new government data. In 2018, the national suicide rate hit its highest level since 1941 — 14.2 per 100,000 people. But death rates for the nation's two biggest killers — heart disease and cancer — were down, as were death rates for flu, chronic lung disease and Alzheimer's disease. "There are clear forces pressing suicide risk factors in a negative direction,” Moutier said, but that's doesn't mean suicide rates will automatically rise. “It’s possible that the rise in COVID-19 is sort pushing down the suicide rate,” he suggested.