Health

How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in Delaware?

Data updated July 19, 2024
549 overdose deaths in 2022. That means that for every 100,000 people living in Delaware, 54 died of drug overdose. This was the highest the drug overdose death rate had been in the state since data from 1999 became available.
Showing data for
In 2022,

54

per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2022,

549

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, Delaware had a drug overdose death rate higher than the US rate overall, nearly 70% higher. The drug overdose death rate in Delaware increased in 18 of the last 23 years for which data is available. The overdose death rate has increased 26% since 2018 and increased 3.0 times since 2013.

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

Drug-involved overdose deaths in Delaware, 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, making up 83% of total overdose deaths in Delaware. The rates of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine and synthetic opioids increased 6.7 and 18.8 times, respectively, between 2002 and 2022 for cocaine and between 2013 and 2022 for synthetic opioids.

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

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

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Although drug overdose deaths were on the rise, they affected geographic areas differently. In 2022, the death rate for overdoses in Delaware ranged from 51 per 100,000 in Sussex County and Kent County to 56 per 100,000 in New Castle County.
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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