How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in the United States?
About 105,007 overdose deaths in 2023. That means that for every 100,000 people living in the US, 31 died of a drug overdose. This is the third highest the drug overdose death rate has been since data from 1999 became available.
Data updated July 19, 2024
In 2023,
31
per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2023,
105K
people died of overdoses
In 2023,
93%
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 24 years. The overdose death rate increased 51% since 2018 and increased 2.3 times since 2013. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies drug overdose deaths according to their intent: unintentional, suicide, or homicide. About 93% of all overdose deaths were unintentional, followed by suicidal overdoses at 4%.
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 2023, 69% of drug overdose deaths involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Drug overdose death rates involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids and methamphetamine increased 74 and 53 times, respectively, between 1999 and 2023.
In 2023, 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 are increasing, they affect geographic areas differently. In the US, the age-adjusted death rate for overdoses ranges from 9.0 per 100,000 in Nebraska to 81.9 per 100,000 in West Virginia. Washington, DC and 27 states had death rates higher than the US rate of 32.5 per 100,000 people.
In 2023, West Virginia had the highest drug overdose death rate in the country.
Drug-involved overdose deaths in 2023, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.
