Jennifer Mendoza
Research expert covering health, pharma and medtech
The opioid epidemic in the U.S. - Statistics & Facts
The death rate from drug overdose in the United States has risen steadily since 1999 and hit a record high in 2022. That year there were around 33 overdose deaths per 100,000 population, compared to a rate of six per 100,000 population in 1999. The vast majority of these drug overdose deaths involve opioids such as prescription opioids, heroin, or illegally manufactured synthetic opioids like fentanyl. This sharp rise in opioid abuse and overdose deaths in the United States is known as the opioid epidemic. Although the government declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency in 2017, the epidemic has only worsened in recent years, intensifying under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opioid epidemic has come in three distinct waves: the first was a rise in overdose deaths from prescription opioids; the second, a sharp increase in overdose deaths involving heroin; and the third, and most deadly, a substantial increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids, namely fentanyl.
