Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 2003–2023

The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths decreased from 32.6 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2022, to 31.3 in 2023. Rates decreased between 2022 and 2023 for people ages 15-54 and increased for adults 55 and older. From 2022 to 2023, rates decreased for White non-Hispanic people, while rates for other race and Hispanic groups generally stayed the same or increased. From 2022 to 2023, rates declined for deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, heroin, and natural and semisynthetic opioids, remained statistically unchanged for methadone, and increased by 4.9% for cocaine (from 8.2 to 8.6) and by 1.9% for psychostimulants with abuse potential (from 10.4 to 10.6).