Drug overdose deaths
Drug overdose deaths spiked in 2020 and 2021. Overdose death rates are highest for American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and White individuals.
Drug overdose death rates and total number of drug overdose deaths, U.S.
Rates are age-adjusted per 100,000 population, by race/ethnicity
Source: CDC/ Wonder Mortality Data. Notes: Race groups are non-Hispanic. Total number of drug overdose deaths are for the 12-month period ending October of each year. Light gray sections of bars represent provisional data.
While the drug overdose crisis has grown over the last 20 years, fatal overdoses have skyrocketed over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. Drug overdose deaths increased by 30% between 2019 and 2020, whereas the increase between 2018 and 2019 was only 1.6%. Preliminary data for 2021 shows a 16% increase from 2020. Many drug overdose analyses have focused on low-income white communities but the rate of fatal overdoses among American Indian/Alaska Native communities is often near or above that of their white counterparts.1,2 American Indian/Alaska Native communities had the highest rate of drug overdose deaths (42 per 100,000) in 2020, while death rates among Black individuals (35 per 100,000) exceeded that of white individuals (33 per 100,000) for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Several Southern states are among those with the highest drug overdose death rates. In West Virginia, the drug overdose death rate skyrocketed from an already elevated level of 52.8 deaths per 100,000 population in 2019 to 81.4 in 2020. Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana were also among states with the highest drug overdose death rates in 2020 at 49.2, 45.6, and 42.7 deaths per 100,000 population, respectively.3
Economic burdens, isolation, and limited access to treatment and care throughout the pandemic have exacerbated the underlying drug overdose crisis.4
“Far From a ‘White Problem’: Responding to the Overdose Crisis as a Racial Justice Issue”. Friedman, Hansen. AJPH. February, 2022. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306698
“Black and Native Overdose Mortality Overtook that of White Individuals During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. Friedman. MedRxiv. November, 2021. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.02.21265668v1.full.pdf
“Drug Overdose Deaths”. CDC. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/dcdd/viz/04_DrugOverdose/04_DrugOverdose
“Overdose deaths hit a historic high in 2020. Frustrated experts say these strategies could help save lives”. Santhanam. PBS. January, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/overdose-deaths-hit-a-historic-high-in-2020-frustrated-experts-say-these-strategies-could-save-lives