Statistics of drug-related deaths in 2023 and earlier years, broken down by age, sex, substances implicated in the death, underlying cause of death, and NHS Board and Council areas.

See also:

• Data
• Methodological Annexes
• Additional Tables
• Additional Data

1,172 people died due to drug misuse in 2023, according to latest statistics published by National Records of Scotland. This is an increase of 121 deaths compared with 2022. This is the second lowest number of drug misuse deaths since 2017, with 2022 seeing the lowest number. Drug misuse deaths are more common than they were in 2000. After adjusting for age, the rate of drug misuse deaths were 4.2 times as high in 2023 than 2000. 

The average age of drug misuse deaths has also increased from 32 to 45 since 2000.

Opiates and opioids, including heroin, morphine and methadone were implicated in 80% of all deaths.

Almost nine out of 10 drug misuse deaths were classified as accidental poisonings, with 7% classed as intentional self-poisonings.

People in the most deprived areas of Scotland are more than 15 times as likely to die from drug misuse compared to people in the least deprived areas. The association of deprivation with drug misuse deaths is much greater than with other causes of death.