Health

How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in Alaska?

Data updated July 19, 2024
254 overdose deaths in 2022. For every 100,000 people in Alaska, 35 died of drug overdose. This was the second highest drug overdose death rate in the state since data from 1999 became available.
Showing data for
In 2022,

35

per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2022,

254

people died of overdoses
Unadjusted data about the nation is a useful starting point, but age-adjusted data tells a more complete story. Age-adjusting accounts for differences in age distributions across populations, which is crucial when comparing health outcomes since age is a major risk factor for many conditions. This adjustment enables fairer comparisons of mortality rates between different groups or over time. The rest of the data on this page is age-adjusted.
In 2022, Alaska had a drug overdose death rate 5% higher than the US rate overall. The drug overdose death rate in Alaska increased in 12 of the last 23 years for which data is available. The overdose death rate has increased 2.4 times since 2013.

In 2022, Alaska had a drug overdose death rate higher than the US rate.

Drug-involved overdose deaths in Alaska, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people

The rise in drug overdose deaths nationally has been due to growing use of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, however, this may vary by state. In 2022, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids were involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug, accounting for 63% of total overdose deaths in Alaska. The rate of drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl increased 7.4 times between 2009 and 2022. For methamphetamine, the rate increased 6.5 times between 2012 and 2022.

In 2022, fentanyl was involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug.

Drug-involved overdose deaths in Alaska, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people

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Although drug overdose deaths are on the rise, they affect geographic areas differently. In 2022, the death rate for overdoses in Alaska ranged from 24 per 100,000 in Fairbanks North Star Borough to 45 per 100,000 in Anchorage Borough.
Occasionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will mark data as either suppressed or unreliable. Suppression occurs when data does not meet confidentiality requirements. As a result, data may not be available for every county in this state. Age-adjusted data is also not available at the county level. County-level tables reflect the most recent year of available data.

Drug-involved overdose deaths per 100,000 people (2022)

Drug-involved overdose deaths per 100,000 people (2022)

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