This is How Each State Did as National Overdose Deaths Fell Last Year
During the 12-month period ending in June 2024, nearly all states experienced a decrease in the percentage of overdose deaths compared to the previous 12 months, with only five states seeing an increase.
The majority of states in the U.S. witnessed a decline in overdose deaths, while five states in the western part of the country saw an increase. The total number of deaths decreased to 96,801 for the year ending in June, down from 113,154 in the previous year, as reported by the CDC.
This drop in overdose deaths can be attributed to the increased availability of opioid overdose reversal drugs like naloxone and a decrease in deaths linked to fentanyl.
“This marks the largest reduction in overdose deaths ever recorded, with the seventh consecutive month of reported decreases in predicted 12-month total numbers of drug overdose deaths,” he mentioned.
Gupta pointed out that with the onset of the Biden administration and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, overdose deaths had been increasing by 31 percent year-over-year.
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“Over the past four years, we have removed decades-long barriers to treatment for millions of Americans, we have made life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone more accessible and affordable across the country, and we have invested historic levels of funding to crack down on the supply of illicit fentanyl at the border,” Gupta stated after the data release. “The latest data show that our efforts are working, and as a result, there were 16,000 fewer overdose deaths over the last year. Every life saved means one less grieving family and community.”
The states with the most significant percentage decreases were North Carolina (-30.1 percent; 3,198 total deaths), Ohio (-24.5 percent; 3,938 total deaths), Virginia (-23.3 percent; 1,992 total deaths), South Carolina (-23.2 percent; 1,815 total deaths), and Pennsylvania (-22.8 percent; 4,041 total deaths).
On the other hand, the five states that experienced percentage increases in overdose deaths were Alaska (+38.7 percent; 398 total deaths), Nevada (+26.1 percent; 1,603 total deaths), Oregon (+16.0 percent; 1,882 total deaths), Washington (+6.4 percent; 3,527 total deaths), and Utah (+5.1 percent; 726 total deaths).
California (-10.2 percent; 11,537 total deaths), Florida (-14.2 percent; 6,697 total deaths), Texas (-2.9 percent; 5,628 total deaths), Pennsylvania (-22.8 percent; 4,041 total deaths), and Ohio (-24.5 percent; 3,938 total deaths) were the states with the highest total numbers of overdose deaths.
Conversely, the states with the lowest total numbers of overdose deaths were South Dakota (-11.1 percent; 80 total deaths), Wyoming (-0.8 percent; 127 total deaths), North Dakota (-10.3 percent; 130 total deaths), Nebraska (-22.8 percent; 149 total deaths), and Montana (-7.5 percent; 172 total deaths).
The CDC defines provisional drug overdose death counts as death records received and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) from state vital registration offices through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program by a specific cutoff date.
The agency highlighted that all state data are “underreported due to incomplete data.” The timeliness of provisional mortality surveillance data in the National Vital Statistics System database varies by cause of death, as mentioned by the agency.
Compared to other causes of death, there is a longer lag time for drug overdose deaths, and provisional estimates have traditionally been reported 6 months after the death date. Recent improvements in data timeliness have reduced the lag time to 4 months, as per the agency.
