The number of Australians dying from drug overdoses continues to climb, with over 38,000 drug-induced deaths recorded since 2002, according to Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2024.
The report, which focuses on unintentional drug-induced deaths, reveals alarming statistics about the growing impact of drug overdoses on communities across the nation.
In 2022, Australia reported 2,356 drug-induced deaths, accounting for 69,815 years of life lost, with an average of 31 years lost per death. Of these, 1,878 were unintentional. Since 2014, the number of unintentional drug-induced deaths has exceeded the road toll, and the gap continues to widen.
The increase in these deaths has also far outpaced population growth; while Australia’s population has grown by 20.4% since 2002, unintentional drug-induced deaths have surged by 108%, according to the report by Penington Institute.
Drug overdoses are now a leading cause of death across most adult age groups. In 2022, drug-induced deaths ranked as the third leading cause of death for Australians aged 20-29, behind suicide and land transport accidents.
For men aged 30-39, drug-induced deaths were the second leading cause of death, and for women in the same age group, they were the third leading cause, following suicide and breast cancer. Among those aged 40-49, drug-induced deaths were the second leading cause for both men and women.
Intentional drug-induced deaths also remain a significant concern, with 426 such deaths recorded in 2022. The rate of intentional drug-induced deaths in rural and regional Australia has risen sharply since 2002 and now exceeds the rate in capital cities. The report highlights a worrying trend among older Australians, with those aged over 60 accounting for more than one-third (37.8%) of all intentional drug-induced deaths in 2022.
Unintentional drug-induced deaths are not evenly distributed across the country. Since 2005, regional and rural Victoria has experienced a higher rate of these deaths than Melbourne. In 2022, the rate of unintentional drug-induced deaths in regional and rural Victoria was 8.0 per 100,000 population, slightly higher than the 7.8 per 100,000 population rate in Greater Melbourne.
In Melbourne, benzodiazepines and heroin were the most common drugs involved in unintentional drug-induced deaths in 2022, with rates of 3.7 and 3.2 deaths per 100,000 population, respectively.
In regional and rural Victoria, benzodiazepines led the list, with a rate of 3.6 deaths per 100,000 population, followed by other pharmaceuticals at 3.4 deaths per 100,000 population. The report notes that all drug types have seen a substantial increase in regional Victoria since 2007, with a particularly sharp rise in deaths related to other pharmaceuticals since 2013.
As the number of drug-induced deaths continues to rise, the report underscores the urgent need for targeted interventions to address this growing public health crisis, especially in rural and regional areas where the impact is most pronounced.
Read the full report
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