How many people die of drug overdoses in each country?
Among the 116 countries and territories with a detailed WHO death record from 2018 or later, the median is 0.74 drug-induced deaths per 100,000 people, and the highest rates among those with at least 20 deaths are United States of America (30.57 in 2023), Puerto Rico (22.58 in 2023), Canada (18.13 in 2024); 54 of the 116 pass all five quality checks.
drug-induced deaths per 100,000 people
00.51251030
Year varies by country (2003–2024) · grey: no figure
Latest figure for each country
United Kingdom: United Kingdom total; England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are also listed separately. Too small or not separate on this map: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion. Each colour is one figure per country: one year, not an average, for the year shown in the ranking and when you point at a country.With "How sure" on, hatching marks countries whose latest figure has a trust score below 60 (Low or Very low).
All countries
Each source's value links to its publisher; point at it for the source and year. A value in brackets is shown but doesn't count, and pointing at it says why. Retrieved 2026-10-25.
About this data
Every source on this page (1)
Who is behind the sources
- 100% International body
Each publisher, its funding and its own description
- World Health Organization (WHO) · International bodyFunding: Assessed contributions (membership dues) from member states, plus voluntary contributions from member states and other partners. sourceIn its own words: “…WHO is the United Nations agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health…” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
- WHO Mortality Database, drug-induced deathsUsed for 134 countries; counts toward 134. Years 2003 to 2024. Retrieved 2026-10-25.Open the publisher's page
Why the numbers differ (5)
- Which codes count. This page counts deaths coded as poisoning by drugs and medicines, whatever the intent. It leaves out deaths coded to drug-use disorders in the F chapter of ICD-10, and it includes prescribed medicines.
- For 1 of the 77 countries with 20 or more deaths in the latest year (from 2018), more deaths are coded to drug-use disorders (F11-F16, F18-F19) than to the poisoning codes used here, and those deaths are not in this figure. Each line's notes give the count. (source, retrieved 2026-10-25)
- Under-reporting. Where death registration is incomplete the rate is too low, and each line says so. A poisoning recorded without naming a substance can fall outside these codes.
- Undetermined intent. Deaths coded Y10-Y14 are in this total. A source that counts only accidental poisonings will be lower. For 18 of the 77 countries with 20 or more deaths in the latest year (from 2018), 25% or more of the total is coded undetermined intent, highest in Egypt 87.4%, South Africa 86.8%, Malaysia 61.7%, Bulgaria 54.5%, Croatia 47.1%. Each line's notes give the split. (source, retrieved 2026-10-25)
- Unspecified substances. For 16 of those countries, more poisoning deaths are coded to unspecified chemicals and noxious substances (X49, X69, Y19) than to drugs. Those lines fail the quality check for known problems. (source, retrieved 2026-10-25)
Common mistakes (2)
- Comparing these rates with a rate in another unit or for another age group without converting. These are deaths per 100,000 people of all ages.
- Reading a drug-induced death rate as a rate of illegal drug use. These codes also count deaths from prescribed and over-the-counter medicines.
Context (2)
Sources considered and not used (6)
- EUDA Statistical Bulletin, drug-induced deaths tables: euda.europa.eu answered with a bot check (HTTP 403) on 2 November 2026, so neither its figures nor its definitions were read. EUDA publishes its own drug-induced death figures, which a reader can compare at the link. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- UNODC data portal, drug-related deaths: The portal's Drug Use & Treatment section lists prevalence, injecting and treatment datasets but no drug-related deaths dataset (checked 2 November 2026). The older table a04-drug-related_mortality.pdf now redirects to the portal home page. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- WHO Mortality Database, countries on condensed lists only: Lists 101 and UE1 group all poisonings (X40-X49) and all self-harm (X60-X84) without a drug-only item, so these have no figure here: Andorra, Azerbaijan, Russian Federation, San Marino, Seychelles, Turkmenistan, Ukraine. (source, retrieved 2026-10-25)
- WHO Mortality Database, ICD-9 and ICD-8 files: WHO's ICD-9 lists have an item for accidental poisoning by drugs (B480, E850-E858), but self-inflicted and undetermined-intent deaths appear only as wider groups (B54, B560), and ICD-8 List A groups accidental poisoning as one item (A140). These categories cannot rebuild this page's all-intent definition, so series start with each country's first detailed ICD-10 year. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
- WHO Mortality Database, Rodrigues and former entities: Rodrigues is part of Mauritius, and former entities such as the Netherlands Antilles are not current countries.
- WHO Mortality Database, some years: These have deaths but no population in WHO's file or UN World Population Prospects 2024, so no rate was computed: United Kingdom, Scotland. (source, retrieved 2026-10-25)
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