More countries perceive an increase in drug-related deaths in 2024 than decrease.
Toxicological findings reported by 66 countries suggest that opioids are found in direct drug-related deaths far more than other drug types, but cocaine has overtaken (albeint by a small margin) pharmaceutical sedatives and tranquilizers used non-medically, as the second most common drug.
The limited number of countries that reported sex-disaggregated data of direct-drug related deaths suggest that females are more likely to die in relation to sedatives and tranquilizers (33 percent, average of 35 countries) than in relation to other drugs.
In the United States, the country with the highest number of drug-related deaths globally, the largest category causing deaths remained opioids in 2023. Females constitute about thirty per cent of all drug overdoses with their highest share (55%) among the relatively small number of deaths associated with antidepressants.
Global estimates by IHME confirm the dominance of opioids as the most common cause of direct drug-related deaths, with a considerable increase over the past three decades, but especially over the last decade, with this trend possibly slowing down.
