This page provides answers to the questions most often asked about drug overdose deaths in Europe. Also known as ‘drug-related deaths’ or more specifically ‘drug-induced deaths’, they are deaths directly attributable to the use of illicit drugs. The information presented here is based on the latest data from the 27 Member States of the European Union and the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) affiliates Norway and Türkiye. It draws on contributions from specialists from these countries, as well as on information provided by the countries in an annual reporting exercise.

Opioids, often heroin, were involved in three quarters of the drug-induced deaths reported in Europe, although this is not true for all countries. Opioids used in agonist treatment can also be found in post-mortem analyses in some countries. Deaths related to medications, such as oxycodone and tramadol, are also reported. Available data from 16 EU Member States indicate that the number of deaths related to fentanyl and fentanyl derivatives remained relatively stable in 2023, the year with the most recent data, when the drugs were linked to 153 overdose deaths compared with 159 in 2022. Some of these fatalities might be associated with diverted medicines rather than with illicit fentanyl. Other potent synthetic opioids, notably nitazenes (identified since 2019) are involved in deaths in several countries including Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, with peaks in the number of deaths reported in 2023-24 in these countries. Deaths related to stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines have been reported in recent years in several countries. Most drug-induced deaths involve polydrug use. For all these substances, we expect that the presented numbers are underestimation of real numbers.