Health

How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in Pennsylvania?

Data updated July 19, 2024
5169 overdose deaths in 2022. That means for every 100,000 people in Pennsylvania, 40 died of drug overdose. This was the third highest drug overdose death rate in the state since data from 1999 became available.
Showing data for
In 2022,

40

per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2022,

5.2K

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, Pennsylvania had a drug overdose death rate higher than the US rate overall, nearly 25% higher. The drug overdose death rate in Pennsylvania increased in 19 of the last 23 years for which data is available. The overdose death rate has increased 13% since 2018 and increased 2.1 times since 2013.

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

Drug-involved overdose deaths in Pennsylvania, 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 71% of total overdose deaths in Pennsylvania. The rates of drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids increased 149.5 times between 1999 and 2022. Over the same period, the overdose death rate for cocaine increased 11.5 times.

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

Drug-involved overdose deaths in Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania ranged from 16 per 100,000 in Franklin County and Cumberland County to 108 per 100,000 in Lawrence 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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