Health

How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in Illinois?

Data updated July 19, 2024
3,849 overdose deaths in 2022. That means for every 100,000 people in Illinois, 31 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,

31

per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2022,

3.9K

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, Illinois had a drug overdose death rate lower than the US rate overall, nearly 8% lower. The drug overdose death rate in Illinois increased in 18 of the last 23 years for which data is available. The overdose death rate has increased 41% since 2018 and has increased 2.5 times since 2013.

In 2022, Illinois had a drug overdose death rate lower than the US rate.

Drug-involved overdose deaths in Illinois, 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 76% of total overdose deaths in Illinois. The rates of drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids increased by 114 times between 1999 and 2022.

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

Drug-involved overdose deaths in Illinois, 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 Illinois ranged from 14 per 100,000 in McLean County to 55 per 100,000 in Winnebago 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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