United States drug overdose death rates and totals over time
US public health issue
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has data on drug overdose death rates and totals. Around 1,106,900 US residents died from drug overdoses from 1968 to 2020. Around 932,400 died from 1999 through 2020. Around 93,700 died in 2020. Opioids were involved in around 80,400 of the around 109,200 deaths in 2021. Synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) were involved with 70,601 deaths in 2021. Around 111,000 people died in 2022. Around 108,500 in 2023.[4][5][6][1][2]
Around 94,100 people died in the 12-month period ending July 31, 2024, at a rate of 257 deaths per day. That is 28.0 deaths per 100,000 US residents, using the population at the midpoint of that period. The CDC's "predicted value" is used for all the above yearly numbers in the intro. CDC: "Predicted provisional counts represent estimates of the number of deaths adjusted for incomplete reporting (see Technical Notes)." And the above yearly numbers are updated regularly here as they change.[4][5]
1968–2022
The numbers at the source for the table below are continually updated. So the numbers in the table below may be slightly different.[6]
2021 was a turning point in US history with over 100,000 deaths.[8]
For convenience, and as a geographic aid, the "Category:Health in STATE" links are also in this map. Click on any state.
Timeline by drug
Concerning the data in the charts below (in this section and the following sections) deaths from the various drugs add up to more than the yearly overdose death total because multiple drugs are involved in many of the deaths.[7]
Opioids were involved in around 80,400 of the around 106,700 deaths in 2021.[7] See map higher up for states with the highest overdose death rates.
Rate timeline by race and ethnicity
Rate timeline by sex
Comparisons to other countries in Europe
There were around 68,700 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2018. That is a rate of 210 deaths per million residents.[4][5] Compare that rate to the 2018 rates of the European countries in the first chart below.
^ abcProducts - Vital Statistics Rapid Release - Provisional Drug Overdose Data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hover cursor over the end of the graph in Figure 1A to get the latest number. Scroll down the page and click on the dropdown data table called "Data Table for Figure 1a. 12 Month-ending Provisional Counts of Drug Overdose Deaths". The number used is the "predicted value" for the 12-month period that is ending at the end of that month. That number changes as more info comes in. See "Technical Notes". If there are problems use a different browser.
^ abcData is from these saved tables from CDC Wonder at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. The tables have totals, rates, and US populations per year. The numbers are continually updated: "This dataset has been updated since this request was saved, which could lead to differences in results." So the numbers in the table at the source may be slightly different.
1999-2020 data:Multiple Cause of Death, 1999-2020 Results. CDC WONDER Online Database. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html