US overdose deaths fell 27% last year, but remain far above EU levels

An estimated 80,000 people in the US died from drug overdoses in 2024.

The US had 30,000 fewer drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before – the largest one-year decline ever recorded in a country grappling with a decades-long addiction crisis.An estimated 80,000 Americans died from overdoses last year, according to early data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s down 27 per cent from the 110,000 who died in 2023.Experts say more research is needed to understand what drove the reduction, but they mention several possible factors, including increased availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, expanded addiction treatment, and changes in how people use drugs.Still, annual overdose deaths are higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.In a statement, the CDC noted that overdoses are still the leading cause of death for people aged 18 to 44, “underscoring the need for ongoing efforts to maintain this progress”.“Now is not the time to take the foot off the gas pedal,” said Dr Daniel Ciccarone, a drug policy expert at the University of California, San Francisco.President Donald Trump’s administration views opioids, a key driver of the US overdose epidemic, as predominantly a law enforcement issue – and as a reason to step up border security.The administration has also been reorganising and downsizing federal health agencies, though US health chief Robert F Kennedy Jr said overdose prevention efforts will continue.The 21st century opioid epidemic has not affected Europe in the same way. There were an estimated 6,400 drug-related deaths in the European Union in 2022, the latest data shows, though it is likely an underestimate.In the EU, Sweden, Finland, and Latvia have seen the largest increases in overdose deaths over the past decade. Most overdoses were tied to opioids or the use of multiple drugs.