Drug-induced deaths

For related content on drug-induced deaths, see also:

Health impacts: Drug-induced deaths

Drug-induced deaths are defined as those that can be directly attributable to drug use (for example, where drug overdose is recorded as the underlying cause of death), as determined by toxicology and pathology reports. In Australia in 2022, there were 1,240 drug-induced deaths in Major cities (age-standardised rate of 6.5 deaths per 100,000 population) and 429 in Regional and remote areas (5.8 deaths per 100,000).

The following data visualisation shows drug-induced deaths in Australia from 2009 to 2022, by remoteness area and drug type or drug class. Click to view the data as number of drug-induced deaths or age-standardised rate per 100,000 population.

See also the Technical notes.

Figure: Number or age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of drug-induced deathsᵃ, by remoteness area and drug type or drug class, 2009 to 2022

This line graph shows that the number of drug-induced deaths gradually increased between 2009 and 2022 for both regional and remote areas and major cities, however numbers declined slightly between 2019 and 2022 in both regional and remote areas and major cities. The age-standardised rate of drug-induced deaths between 2009 and 2022 increased and then decreased, reaching peaks in 2016 for regional and remote areas and 2017 for major cities. Both the number and age-standardised rate of drug-induced deaths were higher in major cities than regional or remote areas between 2019 and 2022. A filter allows the user to view numbers and age-standardised rates of specific drug-induced deaths in major cities and regional and remote areas.

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