Drug overdose deaths fell by 27 percent in 2024, according to the provisional data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The drop represents a significant trend reversal in what remains the leading cause of death for U.S. adults under 45 years old — one that the CDC described as “a strong sign that public health interventions are making a difference and having a meaningful impact.”
In 2024, there were an estimated 80,391 drug overdose deaths — a 26.9 percent decrease from the estimated 110,037 overdose deaths in 2023.
For the last few years, predicted annual overdose deaths have plateaued: There was an estimated 110,037 deaths in 2023; an estimated 112,582 deaths in 2022; and an estimated 110,697 deaths in 2021.
Those numbers followed a general upward trend in the data from the preceding years, with an estimated 95,072 deaths in 2020; 73,177 deaths in 2019; and 69,747 deaths in 2018.
In 2024, nearly all states saw a decline in estimated overdose death. Only two states — South Dakota and Nevada — saw a slight bump.
South Dakota saw a 2.3 percent uptick, from an estimated 86 deaths in 2023, to an estimated 88 deaths in 2024. And Nevada’s estimated overdose deaths increased by 3.5 percent, from 1,442 in 2023 to 1,492 in 2024.
Meanwhile, Louisiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., all saw declines of 35 percent or more in estimated overdose deaths.
Drug overdose deaths declined across all drug classes calculated. Estimated overdose deaths involving opioids decreased from 83,140 in 2023 to 54,743 in 2024 — including a decline in estimated overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, from 76,282 in 2023 to 48,422 in 2024.
Overdose deaths involving psychostimulants, like methamphetamine, dropped from an estimated 37,096 in 2023 to an estimated 29,456 in 2024. And estimated overdose deaths involving cocaine dropped from 30,833 in 2023 to 22,174 in 2024.
