Deaths Related To Drug Poisoning In England And Wales Number Soar To New Levels - 2023 Registrations

23rd October 2024

In England and Wales, 5,448 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in 2023, the equivalent of 93.0 deaths per million people, and higher than the rate recorded in 2022 (84.4 deaths per million, 4,907 deaths); the age-standardised mortality rate for deaths related to drug poisoning has risen every year since 2012.

Among males, there were 127.6 drug-poisoning deaths registered per million in 2023 (3,645 deaths), compared with 59.8 deaths per million among females (1,803 deaths).

Scottish Data at the bottom of this page and it makes for even worse reading for Scotland.[/b]

Of drug-poisoning deaths registered in 2023, 3,618 were identified as drug misuse, accounting for 61.8 deaths per million people; rates of drug misuse deaths continue to be elevated among those born in the 1970s, often referred to as "Generation X", with the highest rate in those aged 40 to 49 years.

Just under half of all drug-poisoning deaths registered in 2023 were confirmed to involve an opiate (46.8%; 2,551 deaths), while 1,118 deaths involved cocaine, which is 30.5% more than 2022 and represents the 12th consecutive annual rise.

The North East continues to have the highest rates of deaths relating to drug poisoning and drug misuse (174.3 deaths per million people and 108.5 per million, respectively); London had the lowest rate for drug poisoning and drug misuse (58.1 deaths per million people and 41.0 per million, respectively).

In Wales, there were 377 deaths related to drug poisoning registered in 2023, the equivalent of 129.2 deaths per million people, this is higher than the rate recorded in 2022 (109.6 deaths per million, 318 deaths).

Drug poisonings in England and Wales
There were 5,448 deaths related to drug poisoning registered in England and Wales in 2023; this is the highest number since records began in 1993 and 11.0% higher than in 2022 (4,907 registered deaths). The rate of drug-poisoning deaths registered in 2023 (93.0 deaths per million people) is higher than the rate in 2022 (84.4 deaths per million).

The rate of drug-poisoning deaths in 2023 (93.0 deaths per million) was double the rate in 2012 (46.5 deaths per million). The rate has increased every year since 2012, after remaining relatively stable over the preceding two decades.

In England, 5,053 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in 2023, equivalent to a rate of 90.8 deaths per million people. This is higher than the rate recorded in 2022 (82.9 deaths per million, 4,572 deaths).

In Wales, 377 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in 2023, the equivalent of 129.2 deaths per million people. This is higher than the rate recorded in 2022 (109.6 deaths per million, 318 deaths).

Drug misuse in England and Wales
Rates of drug misuse deaths have continued to increase
Deaths classified as drug misuse must meet one or both of the following conditions:

the underlying cause is drug abuse or drug dependence

any of the substances involved are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971

Information on the specific drugs involved in a death is not always available, therefore figures on drug misuse are underestimates.

The proportion of drug-related deaths about which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) holds no information on the specific substances involved has been increasing over time. As such, caution is advised in the interpretation of these statistics. For more information on the issue of missing data please see our blog post on the comparability of UK drug-related death statistics.

Of the 5,448 registered drug-poisoning deaths in 2023, 3,618 were identified as drug misuse. This represents 66.4% of drug poisonings. If we exclude deaths where no information was available on the drug or drugs involved (1,245 deaths), then 86.1% of drug-poisoning deaths related to drug misuse.

The rate of deaths relating to drug misuse in 2023 was 61.8 deaths per million people. The male rate of drug misuse deaths was 90.4 deaths per million in 2023 (2,586 registered deaths) and the female rate was 34.4 deaths per million (1,032 deaths).

People born in the 1970s continue to have the highest rates of drug misuse deaths
In 2023, the highest rate of drug misuse deaths was found in those aged 40 to 49 years (147.3 deaths per million people). They are part of the age cohort often referred to as "Generation X", born between the late 1960s and early 1980s, who have consistently had the highest rates of drug misuse deaths for the past 25 years, as explained in our 2019 article.

The average age at death for drug misuse deaths in 2023 was 44.5 years for males and 47.5 for females. The average for males has been steadily increasing since the late 1990s and is now at a historic high, while the average for females has been relatively consistent between 1993 and 2023.

Drug-poisoning deaths by English region and in Wales
The North East has had the highest rate of drug-poisoning deaths of any English region for 11 consecutive years
In England, the rate of drug-poisoning deaths rose to 90.8 deaths per million from 82.9 deaths per million in 2022.

In 2023, the highest rate of drug-poisoning deaths was observed in the North East (174.3 deaths per million; 441 registered deaths), which is three times higher than the lowest rate in London (58.1 deaths per million; 500 deaths). The North East has had the highest rate of drug-poisoning deaths for the past 11 years.

In Wales, the rate of drug-poisoning deaths rose to 129.2 deaths per million from 109.6 deaths per million in 2022.

Potent synthetic opioids
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has recently published data on the numbers of deaths associated with potent synthetic opioids (nitazenes or fentanyls). This data is sourced from laboratory testing and relates to deaths occurring between 1 June 2023 and 31 May 2024 in England. Because of registration delays, most deaths in the OHID report will not yet have been registered to appear in ONS mortality data. ONS data on deaths involving nitazenes and fentanyl analogues can be found in our Deaths related to drug poisoning by selected substances dataset.

Over half of all drug-poisoning deaths involve more than one drug, and it is not possible in those cases to tell which substance was primarily responsible for the death.

Almost half of all drug-poisoning deaths continue to involve an opiate
For deaths registered in 2023, a total of 2,551 drug-poisoning deaths involved opiates; this was 12.8% higher than in 2022 (2,261 deaths). Opiates were involved in just under half (46.8%) of drug-poisoning deaths registered in 2023, increasing to 60.7% when we exclude deaths that had no drug type recorded on the death certificate. Heroin and morphine (often indistinguishable in toxicology testing) continued to be the most frequently mentioned opiates, with 1,453 drug-poisoning deaths mentioning either one of these substances in 2023 (25.0 deaths per million people).

Cocaine deaths rose by 30.5% in one year
There were 1,118 deaths involving cocaine registered in 2023, which was 30.5% higher than the previous year (857 deaths) and nearly ten times higher than in 2011 (112 deaths). In 2023, males accounted for 79.2% of the deaths involving cocaine (886 males compared with 232 females). Cocaine has consistently been the second most-used drug, after cannabis, in England and Wales over the past decade, as shown in our Drug misuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2023 article.

For more details and graphs go HER

Scotland Sees Big Rise in Drug Related Deaths
The annual report from the National Records of Scotland shows that there were 1,172 drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2023; a 12% increase on the previous year after two years of decreases.

See report published 24 August 2024

Comparisons within the UK
In 2022, the rate of drug poisoning deaths in Scotland was more than double the rates of other UK countries. This is similar to the longer term trend, with Scotland having a higher drug death rate than other parts of the UK for the last decade.
After adjusting for age, the drug poisoning mortality rates in Scotland was 2.7 times as high as the rates in England and Northern Ireland and 2.1 times as high as the rate in Wales. Data for 2022 is the most recent year that data is available across the
UK.
There were 1,193 drug poisoning deaths in Scotland, a rate of 22.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022. The UK region with the next highest rate of drug poisoning deaths was the North East of England with a rate of 13.4. The region with the lowest rate was London, with 5.7 deaths per 100,000 people.