Overdoses in the United States

Is Anywhere Getting Better?

BY Matthew Albasi

Published July 27, 2018

It's no longer a question whether America has an opioid epidemic. That fact is nearly indisputable. But opioids aren't the only drugs we abuse and they aren't the only one killing people by the thousands. We've seen the numbers and charts for opioid-related deaths, but what about overall overdoses? How bad is the overdose epidemic, is there anywhere getting better and how bad is bad anyway?

In 2016, 56,203 people died by overdose in the United States. Adjusted for population, that around 14 people out of every 100,000. To put that in perspective, overdoses accounted for about 1.7% of all deaths in America. In 2013 overdoses passed 15 per 100k accounting for 1.9% of all deaths. And by 2016 it skyrocketed up to more than 22 deaths per 100k or 2.6% of all deaths in the US.

Overdoses in the US

Each circle represents one state. The larger the circle the more deaths occurred.

A chart showing circles which represent the number of overdoses per 100 thousand population in each state are grouped by year showing a general upward trend. Between 2006 and 2016, 383,581 people have died of overdoses

SOURCE: Center for Disease Control



West Virginia is commonly cited as the area most hard hit by the opioid epidemic. Since 2006, the rate of death has steadily increased. In 2006, overdoses accounted for 2.7% of all deaths in the state. By 2016, the number of overdoses per 100k had more than doubled to 65 accounting for more than 5% of all deaths.

Overdoses in West Virginia

Most years since 2006, drug overdoses in West Virgina have increased leaving the state with the most ODs per 100k people in the country. The large dip in 2009 is thought to be a collection error in the data.

A line graph showing deaths per 100 thousand people between 2006 and 2016 in West Virgina. There were about 30 deaths per 100k in 2006 and almost 70 in 2016. 3,168 people have died of overdoses in that time.

SOURCE: Center for Disease Control



Ohio is, in most regards, unremarkable in the overdose epidemic. Having a much higher population than West Virginia, their statistics look less impressive when normalized, but they are close to the "average" american state.

Overdoses in Ohio

Ohio ranks sixth in the nation for overall number of deaths from overdoses. However, they rank in the middle of the pack when adjusted for population.

A line graph showing deaths per 100 thousand people between 2006 and 2016 in Ohio. There were about 17 deaths per 100k in 2006 and more than 40 in 2016. 20,585 people have died of overdoses in that time.

SOURCE: Center for Disease Control



Mississippi is the only state in the nation that saw an overall decrease in overdose deaths. In 2006, there were around 172 deaths from OD accounting for about 17% of all deaths. By 2016, ODs dropped to 82 or about 8% of all deaths.

Overdoses in Mississippi

Mississippi is the only state in the country to have a drop in overdoses.

A line graph showing deaths per 100 thousand people between 2006 and 2016 in Mississippi. There were about 172 deaths per 100k in 2006 and almost 82 in 2016. 1,144 people have died of overdoses in that time.


SOURCE: Center for Disease Control



Data and Caveats

Data was collected from the CDC's 'Multiple Cause of Death Data' through their WONDER tool. The CDC does not release data from a state if there are less than 10 deaths. Becuase of this, states which had less than 10 deaths in any year between 2006 and 2016 were not used in this analysis. The CDC no longer releases the specific drugs involved in the overdoses, however they have a seperate category for alcohol related ODs.