Launched nationwide in July 2022, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline replaced the 10-digit number with an easy three digits and added behavioral health crises to the suicide-related calls it would address.
Since its launch, calls to Lifeline have more than doubled, with disproportionately higher use among adolescents and young adults.
A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on April 22, 2026, shows suicides in the U.S. among young people ages 15-34 were 11% lower than expected between July 2022 and December 2024, representing 4,372 fewer deaths than projected.
