Opioid Crisis Statistics

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HHS is deeply committed to improving the physical and mental health and well-being of every American as we work to address the evolving crisis. HHS continues to support science- and community-based efforts to combat the opioid crisis.

Opioids by the Numbers

$9 billion in grants from HHS to states, tribes, and local communities to fight the opioids crisis in FY 2016-2019*

14,000+ substance abuse facilities in the U.S.

1.27 million Americans are now receiving medication-assisted treatment.

4.1% decline in drug overdose deaths in the United States from 2017 to 2018.

106% increase in total DATA waived providers from January 2017 to June 2019.

142% increase in patients receiving medication-assisted treatment at HRSA-funded health centers from 2016-2018.

 

Facts about Opioids

More than 760,000 people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose. Two out of three drug overdose deaths in 2018 involved an opioid.

 

Misuse of prescription opioids among high school seniors is at its lowest rate since the survey began assessing it.

 

In 2016, the national rate of opioid-related hospitalizations was 297 per 100,000 population.

 

Naloxone is a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. The number of prescriptions for naloxone doubled from 2017 to 2018.

 

In 2018, an estimated 10.3 million people aged 12 or older misused opioids in the past year. Specifically, 9.9 million people misused prescription pain relievers and 808,000 people used heroin.

 

Appropriate prescribing of opioids is essential to protecting the health and safety of Medicare beneficiaries. One in three Medicare Part D beneficiaries received a prescription opioid in 2016.

 

Emergency department visits for opioid overdoses rose 30% in all parts of the US from July 2016 through September 2017.

 

Explore CDC Datasets

CDC’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS™) is an interactive, online database that provides fatal and nonfatal injury, violent death, and cost of injury data from a variety of data sources.

CDC’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) Provides access to a wide array of public health information, including births, deaths, diagnoses, vaccinations, environmental exposures, and population estimates. These data collections are available as online databases, which provide public access to ad hoc queries, summary statistics, maps, charts, and data extracts.