Drug Overdose Deaths: Facts and Figures

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Nearly 108,000 persons in the U.S. died from drug-involved overdose in 2022, including from illicit or prescription drugs (Source: CDC WONDER).

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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 illicitly manufactured 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).

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Any opioid includes prescription opioids (natural and semi-synthetic opioids and methadone), heroin, and synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily illicitly manufactured fentanyl). Opioid-involved overdose deaths rose from 49,860 in 2019 to 81,806 in 2022 (Source: CDC WONDER).

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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. Fentanyl involvement in fatalities that also involved prescription opioid drugs has steadily increased since 2014. This data shows that commonly prescribed opioids are no longer driving the overdose epidemic (Source: CDC WONDER).

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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. While the overall number of heroin involved overdose deaths decreased, the proportion of these deaths co-involving heroin and fentanyl precipitously increased to nearly 80% in 2022 (Source: CDC WONDER).

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Drug overdose deaths involving stimulants rose from 12,122 in 2015 to 57,497 in 2022. Nearly 70% of stimulant involved overdose deaths in 2022 also involved fentanyl (Source: CDC WONDER). 

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Drug overdose deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential (primarily methamphetamine) rose from 5,716 in 2015 to 34,022 deaths in 2022. The number of deaths involving psychostimulants has increased steadily since 2014 regardless of opioid involvement (Source: CDC WONDER).

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Drug overdose deaths involving cocaine rose steadily from 6,784 in 2015 to 15,883 in 2019; and again from 2019 to 2022, with a 73.5% increase to 27,569 deaths. The number of deaths in combination with fentanyl has increased significantly since 2015 and is the main driver of cocaine-involved overdose deaths (Source: CDC WONDER).

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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 (Source: CDC WONDER).

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Drug overdose deaths involving antidepressants have steadily risen from 1,749 in 1999 to 5,863 in 2022 (Source: CDC WONDER).

• Download graphs in PowerPoint - National Drug Involved Overdose Deaths 1999-2022.pptx
• Download the data used to create these figures - Overdose_data_1999-2022 5.7.24.xlsx

Does NIDA collect and release the data 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 more recent 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 CDC’s 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.

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.