How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in Washington, DC?
451 overdose deaths in 2022. That means that for every 100,000 people living in Washington, DC, 67 died of drug overdose. This was the highest the drug overdose death rate was in Washington, DC, since data from 1999 became available.
Showing data for
In 2022,
67
per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2022,
451
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, Washington, DC had a drug overdose death rate nearly 97% higher than the US rate overall. The drug overdose death rate in Washington, DC increased in 14 of the last 23 years for which data is available. The overdose death rate has increased 82% since 2018 and increased 4.3 times since 2013.
In 2022, Washington, DC had a drug overdose death rate higher than the US rate.
Drug-involved overdose deaths in Washington, DC, 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 approximately 72.5% of total overdose deaths in Washington, DC. The rates of drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids increased 11.9 times between 2015 and 2022.
In 2022, fentanyl was involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug.
Drug-involved overdose deaths in Washington, DC, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people
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There is only one county with overdose death rate data available in Washington, DC. The death rate for overdoses in Washington, DC was 67 per 100,000 people.
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)
| 1. | Washington, DC | 67.1 |
