US drug poisoning deaths by sex, 1999 to 2020
US drug poisoning deaths by sex stood at 38 in 2020, up 33.9% on the previous period.
The rate of drug poisoning (overdose) deaths in the United States, per 100,000 population, compared between men and women. The latest readings (2020): Male at 38.3, Female at 15.1.
How it is measured
Every point is built from death certificates: each US death is certified, assigned an underlying cause under the ICD-10 coding standard, and compiled in CDC WONDER. Rates divide deaths by group population, so groups of different sizes are directly comparable, and small counts are suppressed by CDC privacy rules rather than shown imprecisely. The modern coding standard begins in 1999, which is where this series starts, keeping every year internally comparable.
What the curve shows
The overdose curve is the deadliest drug epidemic in US history; its acceleration after 2013 tracks the arrival of illicit fentanyl in the supply. Comparing the lines is the point: the gap between them is itself the finding, and its stability or drift over two decades says more than either line alone.
What does per 100,000 mean?
How is the cause of death decided?
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