Trends & Statistics

Drug Overdose Death Rates

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collects information on deaths involving drugs commonly associated with fatal overdose. NIDA analyzes NCHS data to create the figures and descriptions on this page. Final and provisional data are available to the public and can be accessed from an ad-hoc query system called CDC Wonder—Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research. The NCHS also provides 12-month-ending Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts by state and drug category.

Timely data related to unintentional and undetermined intent drug overdose deaths by participating jurisdiction is also available from the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS). Similar data related to nonfatal drug overdoses are reported through CDC’s Drug Overdose Surveillance and Epidemiology (DOSE) system.

This is a bar chart showing the number of U.S. overdose deaths involving select illicit or prescription drugs from 1999 through 2022. The bars are overlaid by lines representing sex or concurrent opioid involvement. There were 107,941 drug-involved overdose deaths reported in the U.S. in 2022

Figure 1. National Drug Overdose Deaths—Number Among All Ages, by Sex, 1999-2022. Nearly 108,000 persons in the U.S. died from drug-involved overdose in 2022, including from illicit or prescription drugs. The figure  is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. drug overdose deaths involving select illicit and prescription drugs from 1999 to 2022. The bars are overlaid by lines showing the number of deaths by gender from 1999 to 2022 (Source: CDC WONDER).
 

 

Synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) were the main driver of drug overdose deaths with a over 7.5-fold increase from 2015 to 2022

Figure 2. National Drug Overdose Deaths—Number Among All Ages, 1999-2022. Overall, drug overdose deaths rose from 2019 to 2022 with 107,941 drug overdose deaths reported in 2022. Deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) continued to rise with 73,838 overdose deaths reported in 2022. Those involving stimulants, including cocaine or psychostimulants with abuse potential (primarily methamphetamine), also continued to increase with 27,569 and 34,022 respective deaths in 2022 (Source: CDC WONDER).

 

Drug overdose deaths involving any opioid―prescription opioids (including natural and semi-synthetic opioids and methadone), other synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl), and heroin―continued to rise through 2022 with 81,806 deaths. More than 71% of deaths occurred among males

Figure 3. National Overdose Deaths Involving Any Opioid—Number Among All Ages, by Sex, 1999-2022. The figure is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving any opioid from 1999 to 2022. Any opioid includes prescription opioids (natural and semi-synthetic opioids and methadone), heroin, and synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl). Opioid-involved overdose deaths rose from 49,860 in 2019 to 81,806 in 2022. The bars are overlaid by lines showing the number of deaths by sex from 1999 to 2022 (Source: CDC WONDER).

 

From 2021 to 2022, the number of deaths involving prescription opioids declined to 14,716

Figure 4. National Overdose Deaths Involving Prescription Opioids—Number Among All Ages, 1999-2022. The figure is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving commonly prescribed opioids (including natural and semi-synthetic opioids and methadone) from 1999 to 2022. Drug overdose deaths involving prescription opioids rose from 3,442 in 1999 to 17,029 in 2017. From 2017 to 2019, the number of deaths declined to 14,139. This was followed by a slight increase in 2020, with 16,416 reported deaths. In 2022, the number of deaths declined to 14,716. The bars are overlaid by a line showing the number of deaths involving prescription opioids in combination with synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl). A second line shows prescription opioids without any other opioid from 1999 to 2022 and demonstrates that commonly prescribed opioids are no longer driving the overdose crisis (Source: CDC WONDER).

Overdose deaths involving heroin has trended down since 2016 with 5,871 deaths reported in 2022. Nearly 80 % of overdose deaths in 2022 involving heroin also involved synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl).

Figure 5. National Overdose Deaths Involving Heroin, by Other Opioid Involvement—Number Among All Ages, 1999-2022. The figure is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving heroin from 1999 to 2022. Drug overdose deaths involving heroin rose from 3,036 in 2010 to 15,469 in 2016. Since 2016, the number of deaths has trended down with 13,165 deaths reported in 2020, 9,173 reported deaths in 2021 and 5,871 reported deaths in 2022. The bars are overlaid by lines showing the number of deaths involving heroin in combination with synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) or without any other opioid from 1999 to 2022 (Source: CDC WONDER).

Drug overdose deaths involving stimulants, cocaine or psychostimulants with abuse potential –primarily methamphetamine—have significantly increased since 2015 from 12,122 to 57,497 in 2022

Figure 6. National Overdose Deaths Involving Stimulants (cocaine and psychostimulants), by Opioid Involvement—Number Among All Ages, 1999-2022. The figure is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving stimulants from 1999 to 2022. Drug overdose deaths rose from 12,122 in 2015 to 57,497 in 2022. The bars are overlaid by lines showing the number of deaths involving stimulants in combination with synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) or without any opioid (Source: CDC WONDER). 

 

Since 2015, the number of deaths involving psychostimulants (primarily methamphetamine, have risen significantly each year, with 34,022 deaths in 2022.

Figure 7. National Overdose Deaths Involving Psychostimulants With Abuse Potential (Primarily Methamphetamine), by Opioid Involvement—Number Among All Ages, 1999-2022. The figure is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential from 1999 to 2022. Drug overdose deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential rose from 5,716 in 2015 to 34,022 deaths in 2022. The bars are overlaid by lines showing the number of deaths involving psychostimulants in combination with synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) or without any opioid. The number of deaths involving psychostimulants has increased steadily since 2014 regardless of opioid involvement (Source: CDC WONDER). 

The number of deaths involving cocaine have also increased steadily since 2015 with 27,569 deaths reported in 2022

Figure 8. National Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Cocaine, by Opioid Involvement—Number Among All Ages, 1999-2022. The figure is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving cocaine from 1999 to 2022. Drug overdose deaths involving cocaine rose steadily from 6,784 in 2015 to 15,883 in 2019. From 2019 to 2022, cocaine-involved deaths rose 73.5% to 27,569 deaths. The bars are overlaid by lines showing the number of deaths involving cocaine in combination with synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) or without any opioid. The number of deaths in combination with synthetic opioids other than methadone has increased significantly since 2015 and is the main driver of cocaine-involved overdose deaths (Source: CDC WONDER). 

This figure shows the number of overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines were involved in 10,964 deaths in 2022—a decrease from 2021. The proportion of fatalities involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (fentanyl) has increased significantly since 2015

Figure 9. National Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Benzodiazepines, by Opioid Involvement—Number Among All Ages, 1999-2022. The figure above is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines from 1999 to 2022. Drug overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines steadily increased from 1,135 in 1999 to 11,537 in 2017 followed by a decline to 9,711 deaths in 2019. Between 2019 and 2021, deaths rose again to 12,499. In 2022, the number of drug overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines declined to 10,964. The bars are overlaid by lines showing the number of deaths involving benzodiazepines in combination with synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) or without any opioid (Source: CDC WONDER).

This chart shows the number of overdose deaths involving antidepressants. The proportion of fatalities involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (fentanyl) has increased significantly since 2015. Of the 8,791 deaths in 2015, 20% also involved fentanyl. Antidepressant involved deaths have

Figure 10. National Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Antidepressants, by Opioid Involvement–Number Among All Ages, 1999-2022. The figure is a bar and line graph showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving antidepressants from 1999 to 2022. Drug overdose deaths involving antidepressants have steadily risen from 1,749 in 1999 to 5,863 in 2022. The bars are overlaid by lines showing the number of deaths involving antidepressants in combination with synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) or without any opioid involvement (Source: CDC WONDER).

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does NIDA collect and release the data displayed on this webpage?

No. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collects and reports these data, which are available to the public and can be accessed from an ad-hoc query system called CDC Wonder—Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research. NIDA does not fund or assist in the collection of these data but does analyze NCHS data to create the figures and descriptions on this page. 

Why are the statistics displayed not more recent? Where can I find timelier estimates of overdose death rates?

This webpage is regularly updated to display the most recent final drug overdose death data published annually by NCHS. NCHS systems receive and analyze data from death certificates, including cause-of-death information reported by state and local medical examiners and coroners. Because drug overdose deaths often require lengthy investigations, data are updated as new information is received.

For more recent provisional data, please see Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts from NCHS. Timely data related to unintentional and undetermined intent drug overdose deaths by participating jurisdiction is also available from the Similar data related to nonfatal drug overdoses are reported through CDC’s Drug Overdose Surveillance and Epidemiology (DOSE) system.

Where can I find more information about the data displayed on this webpage?

For more information or to contact CDC, please visit the CDC’s Drug Overdose Deaths webpage.