United States drug overdose death rates and totals over time

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has data on drug overdose death rates and totals. Around 1,106,900 US residents died from drug overdoses from 1968 to 2020. Around 932,400 died from 1999 through 2020. Around 93,700 died in 2020. Opioids were involved in around 80,400 of the around 109,200 deaths in 2021. Synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) were involved with 70,601 deaths in 2021. Around 111,000 people died in 2022. Around 108,500 in 2023.^{[4][5][6][1][2]}

Drug overdose deaths in the US per 100,000 people by state.^[1][2]

A two milligram dose of fentanyl powder (on pencil tip) is a lethal amount for most people.^[3]

Around 94,100 people died in the 12-month period ending July 31, 2024, at a rate of 257 deaths per day. That is 28.0 deaths per 100,000 US residents, using the population at the midpoint of that period. The CDC's "predicted value" is used for all the above yearly numbers in the intro. CDC: "Predicted provisional counts represent estimates of the number of deaths adjusted for incomplete reporting (see Technical Notes)." And the above yearly numbers are updated regularly here as they change.^[4][5]

1968–2022

U.S. yearly overdose deaths from all drugs.^[7]

The numbers at the source for the table below are continually updated. So the numbers in the table below may be slightly different.^[6] 2021 was a turning point in US history with over 100,000 deaths.^[8]

• Rates below are per 100,000.
• Population is for July 1 residents.
• Rate (by itself) is Age adjusted.
• Total (at bottom) is 1,106,859 total deaths for 1968–2020.

1968–2020 US drug overdose deaths.^[6]

Year	Deaths	Population	Crude rate	Rate
1968	5,033	199,533,564	2.5	2.8
1969	6,006	201,568,206	3.0	3.3
1970	7,101	203,458,035	3.5	3.8
1971	6,771	206,782,970	3.3	3.5
1972	6,622	209,237,411	3.2	3.4
1973	6,413	211,361,965	3.0	3.2
1974	6,449	213,436,958	3.0	3.2
1975	7,145	215,457,198	3.3	3.4
1976	6,765	217,615,788	3.1	3.2
1977	6,130	219,808,632	2.8	2.9
1978	5,506	222,102,279	2.5	2.6
1979	2,544	224,635,398	1.1	1.1
1980	2,492	226,624,371	1.1	1.1
1981	2,668	229,487,512	1.2	1.2
1982	2,862	231,701,425	1.2	1.2
1983	2,866	233,781,743	1.2	1.2
1984	3,266	235,922,142	1.4	1.3
1985	3,612	238,005,715	1.5	1.5
1986	4,187	240,189,882	1.7	1.7
1987	3,907	242,395,034	1.6	1.6
1988	4,865	244,651,961	2.0	2.0
1989	5,035	247,001,762	2.0	2.0
1990	4,506	248,922,111	1.8	1.8
1991	5,215	253,088,068	2.1	2.0
1992	5,951	256,606,463	2.3	2.3
1993	7,382	260,024,637	2.8	2.8
1994	7,828	263,241,475	3.0	3.0
1995	8,000	266,386,596	3.0	3.0
1996	8,431	269,540,779	3.1	3.1
1997	9,099	272,776,678	3.3	3.3
1998	9,838	276,032,848	3.6	3.6
1999	16,849	279,040,168	6.0	6.1
2000	17,415	281,421,906	6.2	6.2
2001	19,394	284,968,955	6.8	6.8
2002	23,518	287,625,193	8.2	8.2
2003	25,785	290,107,933	8.9	8.9
2004	27,424	292,805,298	9.4	9.4
2005	29,813	295,516,599	10.1	10.1
2006	34,425	298,379,912	11.5	11.5
2007	36,010	301,231,207	12.0	11.9
2008	36,450	304,093,966	12.0	11.9
2009	37,004	306,771,529	12.1	11.9
2010	38,329	308,745,538	12.4	12.3
2011	41,340	311,591,917	13.3	13.2
2012	41,502	313,914,040	13.2	13.1
2013	43,982	316,128,839	13.9	13.8
2014	47,055	318,857,056	14.8	14.7
2015	52,404	321,418,820	16.3	16.3
2016	63,632	323,127,513	19.7	19.8
2017	70,237	325,719,178	21.6	21.7
2018	67,367	327,167,434	20.6	20.7
2019	70,630	328,239,523	21.5	21.6
2020	91,799	329,484,123	27.9	28.3
Total	1,106,859

Death rates by state and year

Asterisks (*) indicate Health in STATE or Healthcare in STATE links in table below.

Drug overdose death rates per 100,000 population by state.^[1]

State	1999	2005	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Alabama *	3.9	6.3	15.2	15.7	16.2	18	16.6	16.3	22.3	30.1
Alaska *	7.5	11.4	16.8	16	16.8	20.2	14.6	17.8	22	35.6
Arizona	10.6	14.1	12.6	19	20.3	22.2	23.8	26.8	35.8	38.7
Arkansas *	4.4	10.1	18.2	13.8	14	15.5	15.7	13.5	19.1	22.3
California *	8.1	9	11.1	11.3	11.2	11.7	12.8	15	21.8	26.6
Colorado *	8	12.7	16.3	15.4	16.6	17.6	16.8	18	24.9	31.4
Connecticut	9	8.5	17.6	22.1	27.4	30.9	30.7	34.7	39.1	42.3
Delaware	6.4	7.5	20.9	22	30.8	37	43.8	48	47.3	54
Florida *	6.4	13.5	13.2	16.2	23.7	25.1	22.8	25.5	35	37.5
Georgia *	3.5	8.2	11.9	12.7	13.3	14.7	13.2	13.1	18	23.5
Hawaii *	6.5	9.4	10.9	11.3	12.8	13.8	14.3	15.9	18.3	17.3
Idaho *	5.3	8.1	13.7	14.2	15.2	14.4	14.6	15.1	15.9	19
Illinois	6.7	8.4	13.1	14.1	18.9	21.6	21.3	21.9	28.1	29
Indiana	3.2	9.8	18.2	19.5	24	29.4	25.6	26.6	36.7	43
Iowa	1.9	4.8	8.8	10.3	10.6	11.5	9.6	11.5	14.3	15.3
Kansas	3.4	9.1	11.7	11.8	11.1	11.8	12.4	14.3	17.4	24.3
Kentucky	4.9	15.3	24.7	29.9	33.5	37.2	30.9	32.5	49.2	55.6
Louisiana	4.3	14.7	16.9	19	21.8	24.5	25.4	28.3	42.7	55.9
Maine	5.3	12.4	16.8	21.2	28.7	34.4	27.9	29.9	39.7	47.1
Maryland *	11.4	11.4	17.4	20.9	33.2	36.3	37.2	38.2	44.6	42.8
Massachusetts *	7.5	12	19	25.7	33	31.8	32.8	32.1	33.9	36.8
Michigan	4.6	9.8	18	20.4	24.4	27.8	26.6	24.4	28.6	31.5
Minnesota *	2.8	5.4	9.6	10.6	12.5	13.3	11.5	14.2	19	24.5
Mississippi *	3.2	8.8	11.6	12.3	12.1	12.2	10.8	13.6	21.1	28.4
Missouri	5	10.7	18.2	17.9	23.6	23.4	27.5	26.9	32.1	36.5
Montana *	4.6	10.1	12.4	13.8	11.7	11.7	12.2	14.1	15.6	19.5
Nebraska	2.3	5	7.2	6.9	6.4	8.1	7.4	8.7	11.3	11.4
Nevada	11.5	18.7	18.4	20.4	21.7	21.6	21.2	20.1	26	29.2
New Hampshire	4.3	10.7	26.2	34.3	39	37	35.8	32	30.3	32.3
New Jersey	6.5	9.4	14	16.3	23.2	30	33.1	31.7	32.1	32.4
New Mexico	15	20.1	27.3	25.3	25.2	24.8	26.7	30.2	39	51.6
New York *	5	4.8	11.3	13.6	18	19.4	18.4	18.2	25.4	28.7
North Carolina *	4.6	11.4	13.8	15.8	19.7	24.1	22.4	22.3	30.9	39.2
North Dakota *	0	0	6.3	8.6	10.6	9.2	10.2	11.4	15.6	17.2
Ohio *	4.2	10.9	24.6	29.9	39.1	46.3	35.9	38.3	47.2	48.1
Oklahoma *	5.4	13.8	20.3	19	21.5	20.1	18.4	16.7	19.4	24.4
Oregon *	6.1	10.4	12.8	12	11.9	12.4	12.6	14	18.7	26.8
Pennsylvania	8.1	13.2	21.9	26.3	37.9	44.3	36.1	35.6	42.4	43.2
Rhode Island	5.5	14.3	23.4	28.2	30.8	31	30.1	29.5	38.2	41.7
South Carolina *	3.7	9.9	14.4	15.7	18.1	20.5	22.6	22.7	34.9	42.8
South Dakota	0	5.5	7.8	8.4	8.4	8.5	6.9	10.5	10.3	12.6
Tennessee	6.1	14.5	19.5	22.2	24.5	26.6	27.5	31.2	45.6	56.6
Texas *	5.4	8.5	9.7	9.4	10.1	10.5	10.4	10.8	14.1	16.8
Utah *	10.6	19.3	22.4	23.4	22.4	22.3	21.2	18.9	20.5	21.1
Vermont *	4.7	8.5	13.9	16.7	22.2	23.2	26.6	23.8	32.9	42.3
Virginia *	5	7.5	11.7	12.4	16.7	17.9	17.1	18.3	26.6	30.5
Washington *	9.3	13	13.3	14.7	14.5	15.2	14.8	15.8	22	28.1
West Virginia *	4.1	10.5	35.5	41.5	52	57.8	51.5	52.8	81.4	90.9
Wisconsin	4	9.3	15.1	15.5	19.3	21.2	19.2	21.1	27.7	31.6
Wyoming	4.1	4.9	19.4	16.4	17.6	12.2	11.1	14.1	17.4	18.9

Death counts by state over time

Overall US totals by year, followed by breakdown by state by year.^[1]

Overall US totals by year

States	1999	2005	2014	2015	2016
Deaths	16,801	29,736	46,959	52,279	63,363

Overall US totals by year

States	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Deaths	69,927	67,113	70,319	91,375	106,249

State links below are "Category:Health in STATE" links. See overall category.

Drug overdose deaths by state over time.^[1]

Drug overdose deaths by state over time

State	1999	2005	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Alabama	169	283	723	736	756	835	775	768	1,029	1,408
Alaska	46	79	124	122	128	147	110	132	160	260
Arizona	511	794	356	1,274	1,382	1,532	1,670	1,907	2,550	2,730
Arkansas	113	269	1,211	392	401	446	444	388	546	637
California	2,662	3,214	4,521	4,659	4,654	4,868	5,348	6,198	8,908	10,901
Colorado	349	608	899	869	942	1,015	995	1,079	1,492	1,887
Connecticut	310	295	623	800	971	1,072	1,069	1,214	1,371	1,552
Delaware	50	62	189	198	282	338	401	435	444	513
Florida	997	2,371	2,634	3,228	4,728	5,088	4,698	5,268	7,231	7,827
Georgia	283	738	1,206	1,302	1,394	1,537	1,404	1,408	1,916	2,500
Hawaii	80	126	157	169	191	203	213	242	274	269
Idaho	64	109	212	218	243	236	250	265	287	354
Illinois	825	1,067	1,705	1,835	2,411	2,778	2,722	2,790	3,549	3,762
Indiana	191	610	1,172	1,245	1,526	1,852	1,629	1,699	2,321	2,811
Iowa	53	141	264	309	314	341	287	352	432	475
Kansas	89	241	332	329	313	333	345	403	490	680
Kentucky	197	638	1,077	1,273	1,419	1,566	1,315	1,380	2,083	2,381
Louisiana	188	661	777	861	996	1,108	1,140	1,267	1,896	2,463
Maine	67	163	216	269	353	424	345	371	496	611
Maryland	629	656	1,070	1,285	2,044	2,247	2,324	2,369	2,771	2,737
Massachusetts	488	780	1,289	1,724	2,227	2,168	2,241	2,210	2,302	2,585
Michigan	460	985	1,762	1,980	2,347	2,694	2,591	2,385	2,759	3,089
Minnesota	136	282	517	581	672	733	636	792	1,050	1,356
Mississippi	87	248	336	351	352	354	310	394	586	787
Missouri	276	608	1,067	1,066	1,371	1,367	1,610	1,583	1,875	2,155
Montana	41	96	125	138	119	119	125	143	162	199
Nebraska	39	86	125	126	120	152	138	161	214	214
Nevada	227	457	545	619	665	676	688	647	832	949
New Hampshire	54	142	334	422	481	467	452	407	393	441
New Jersey	557	823	1,253	1,454	2,056	2,685	2,900	2,805	2,840	3,056
New Mexico	266	373	547	501	500	493	537	599	784	1,052
New York	959	944	2,300	2,754	3,638	3,921	3,697	3,617	4,965	5,842
North Carolina	366	1,000	1,358	1,567	1,956	2,414	2,259	2,266	3,146	3,981
North Dakota	12	12	43	61	77	68	70	82	114	124
Ohio	467	1,243	2,744	3,310	4,329	5,111	3,980	4,251	5,204	5,397
Oklahoma	178	478	777	725	813	775	716	645	762	960
Oregon	210	386	522	505	506	530	547	615	803	1,171
Pennsylvania	990	1,613	2,732	3,264	4,627	5,388	4,415	4,377	5,168	5,449
Rhode Island	58	156	247	310	326	320	317	307	397	455
South Carolina	147	427	701	761	879	1,008	1,125	1,127	1,739	2,138
South Dakota	17	40	63	65	69	73	57	86	83	105
Tennessee	344	872	1,269	1,457	1,630	1,776	1,823	2,089	3,034	3,813
Texas	1,087	1,910	2,601	2,588	2,831	2,989	3,005	3,136	4,172	4,984
Utah	205	438	603	646	635	650	624	571	622	662
Vermont	29	53	83	99	125	134	153	133	190	252
Virginia	366	581	980	1,039	1,405	1,507	1,448	1,547	2,240	2,626
Washington	555	850	979	1,094	1,102	1,169	1,164	1,259	1,733	2,264
West Virginia	75	184	627	725	884	974	856	870	1,330	1,501
Wisconsin	212	518	853	878	1,074	1,177	1,079	1,201	1,531	1,775
Wyoming	20	26	109	96	99	69	66	79	99	109

For convenience, and as a geographic aid, the "Category:Health in STATE" links are also in this map. Click on any state.

Timeline by drug

Concerning the data in the charts below (in this section and the following sections) deaths from the various drugs add up to more than the yearly overdose death total because multiple drugs are involved in many of the deaths.^[7]

US yearly overdose deaths, and the drugs involved.^[7]

Opioid charts

Further information: Opioid overdose and Opioid epidemic in the United States

Fentanyl. 2 mg (white powder to the right) is a lethal dose in most people.^[9][10] US penny is 19 mm (0.75 in) wide.

Opioids were involved in around 80,400 of the around 106,700 deaths in 2021.^[7] See map higher up for states with the highest overdose death rates.

Three waves of opioid overdose deaths.^[11]

U.S. overdose deaths involving all opioids. Deaths per 100,000 population.^[12]

US yearly deaths from all opioid drugs. Included in this number are opioid analgesics, along with heroin and illicit synthetic opioids.^[7]

US yearly deaths involving other synthetic opioids, predominately Fentanyl.^[7]

US yearly deaths involving prescription opioids. Non-methadone synthetics is a category dominated by illegally acquired fentanyl, and has been excluded.^[7]

US overdose deaths involving heroin, by other opioid involvement.^[7]

Timeline of US overdose deaths involving stimulants (cocaine and psychostimulants), by opioid involvement.^[7]

US overdose deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential (primarily methamphetamine), by opioid involvement.

Opioid involvement in cocaine overdose deaths.^[7]

The top line represents the yearly number of benzodiazepine deaths that involved opioids in the US. The bottom line represents benzodiazepine deaths that did not involve opioids.^[7]

Drug overdose deaths involving antidepressants, by opioid involvement.^[7]

Rate timeline by race and ethnicity

Timeline of US drug overdose death rates by race and ethnicity.^[13] Rate per 100,000 population.

Rate timeline by sex

Timeline of US drug overdose death rates by sex,^[14] Rate per 100,000 population.

Comparisons to other countries in Europe

There were around 68,700 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2018. That is a rate of 210 deaths per million residents.^[4][5] Compare that rate to the 2018 rates of the European countries in the first chart below.

Drug overdose death rates for European countries.^[15][16]

• Location links below are "Healthcare in LOCATION" links.

Drug overdose deaths per year by European country.^[16]

Drug overdose deaths per year by European country.

Location	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
Austria	235	191	196	184	154
Belgium			168	152	148
Bulgaria	20	24	11	24	18
Croatia	77	99	97	85	65
Cyprus	10	6	5	12	16
Czech Republic	64	58	42	39	42
Denmark		197	202	183	239
Estonia	39	33	27	39	110
Finland	287	258	234	261	200
France					417
Germany	1,826	1,581	1,398	1,276	1,272
Greece			230	274	255
Hungary	42	48	43	33	33
Ireland					235
Italy	293	309	374	336	297
Latvia	17	21	12	20	22
Lithuania	62	47	52	59	83
Luxembourg	5	6	8	4	8
Malta	5			3	5
Netherlands	298	295	252	224	262
Norway	241	324	275	286	247
Poland		229	212	199	202
Portugal		63	72	55	51
Romania	30	33	45	26	32
Slovakia	28	37	34	32	19
Slovenia	65	70	74	59	47
Spain		774	546	450	437
Sweden	450	524	555	583	643
Turkey		314	342	657	941
United Kingdom					3,284

See also

• List of deaths from drug overdose and intoxication
• Adulterants
• Alcohol intoxication
• Diseases of despair
• Drug interactions
• Responsible drug use
• Suicide methods § Drug overdose

References

1. Drug Overdose Mortality by State. Pick year from menu below map. From National Center for Health Statistics for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers are in the data table below the map, and by running your cursor over the map at the source. CSV data link below table.
2. Death Rate Maps & Graphs | Drug Overdose. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Click on a map year. The data table is below the map. Number of deaths for each state, and the age-adjusted rates of death for each state. Also, place cursor on map states to get data.
3. "One Pill Can Kill". US Drug Enforcement Administration. Archived from the original on 15 Nov 2023. Retrieved 15 Nov 2023.
4. Products - Vital Statistics Rapid Release - Provisional Drug Overdose Data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hover cursor over the end of the graph in Figure 1A to get the latest number. Scroll down the page and click on the dropdown data table called "Data Table for Figure 1a. 12 Month-ending Provisional Counts of Drug Overdose Deaths". The number used is the "predicted value" for the 12-month period that is ending at the end of that month. That number changes as more info comes in. See "Technical Notes". If there are problems use a different browser.
5. US Population by Month. US resident population. Source: US Census Bureau. Population from the middle of the 12-month period is used to calculate the death rate. See WP:CALC.
6. Data is from these saved tables from CDC Wonder at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. The tables have totals, rates, and US populations per year. The numbers are continually updated: "This dataset has been updated since this request was saved, which could lead to differences in results." So the numbers in the table at the source may be slightly different.

   • 1968-1978 data: Compressed Mortality File 1968-1978. CDC WONDER Online Database, compiled from Compressed Mortality File CMF 1968-1988, Series 20, No. 2A, 2000. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/cmf-icd8.html
   • 1979-1998 data: Compressed Mortality File 1979-1998. CDC WONDER On-line Database, compiled from Compressed Mortality File CMF 1968-1988, Series 20, No. 2A, 2000 and CMF 1989-1998, Series 20, No. 2E, 2003. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/cmf-icd9.html
   • 1999-2020 data: Multiple Cause of Death, 1999-2020 Results. CDC WONDER Online Database. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html
7. Drug Overdose Death Rates. By National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). See "Download Links" section near the bottom of the page for the latest data link, and a PowerPoint link.
8. Yousif, Nadine (September 17, 2023). "How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US". BBC News.
9. Fentanyl. Image 4 of 17. US DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). See archive with caption: "photo illustration of 2 milligrams of fentanyl, a lethal dose in most people".
10. Facts About Fentanyl. From US Drug Enforcement Administration.
11. Understanding the Opioid Overdose Epidemic. See large image. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
12. Opioid Data Analysis and Resources. Drug Overdose. CDC Injury Center. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Click on "Rising Rates" tab for a graph. See the data table below the graph.
13. NCHS Data Visualization Gallery - Drug Poisoning Mortality. From National Center for Health Statistics. Open the dashboard dropdown menu and pick "U.S. Trends". From the menus on the right pick all races, all ages, and both sexes. Run your cursor over the graph to see the data.
14. Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 2001–2021. NCHS Data Brief No. 457, December 2022.. From National Center for Health Statistics. Scroll down to Figure 1. Right-click the image, and then click "Open link in new tab" to get the larger PNG image. 2001-2021 chart.
15. Lowther, Ed; Brocklehurst, Steven. (15 December 2020). Scotland's drug death crisis in six charts. BBC News. Data sources listed are EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction) and National Records of Scotland.
16. Statistical Bulletin 2023 — drug-induced deaths. See table of yearly drug deaths by country there. From European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

Further reading

• Opioid Overdose Deaths by Race/Ethnicity. Kaiser Family Foundation.
• Opioid Overdose Deaths by Type of Opioid. Kaiser Family Foundation.