How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in the US?
Data updated July 19, 2024
In 2022, there were about 107,941 overdose deaths. That means that for every 100,000 people living in the US, 32 died of a drug overdose. This is the highest the drug overdose death rate has reached since data from 1999 became available.
Showing data for
In 2022,
32
per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2022,
108K
people died of overdoses
In 2022,
92%
of overdose deaths were unintentional
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.
The drug overdose death rate increased in 19 of the last 23 years, leading to an all-time high in 2022. The overdose death rate increased 57% since 2018 and increased 2.4 times since 2013. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorizes drug overdose deaths by intent: unintentional, suicide, or homicide. About 92% of all overdose deaths were unintentional, followed by suicidal overdoses at 5%.
Most drug overdose deaths are unintentional.
Drug-involved overdose deaths by intent, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people
Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have been involved in more overdose deaths than any other drugs annually since 2016. In 2022, 68.4% of drug overdose deaths involved fentanyl or other synthetic opioids. Drug overdose death rates involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids and methamphetamine increased 75 and 51 times, respectively, between 1999 and 2022.
In 2022, fentanyl was involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug.
Drug-involved overdose deaths by drug, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people
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Although drug overdose deaths have been increasing, they affect geographic areas differently. In the US, the age-adjusted death rate for overdoses ranges from 11.3 per 100,000 in South Dakota to 80.9 per 100,000 in West Virginia. Additionally, Washington, DC and 23 states had death rates higher than the national rate.
In 2022, West Virginia had the highest drug overdose death rate in the country.
Drug-involved overdose deaths in 2022, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people
