Adult substance misuse treatment statistics 2024 to 2025: report

Trends in treatment numbers
There were 329,646 adults aged 18 and over in contact with drug and alcohol treatment services between April 2024 and March 2025. This is a 6% rise compared to the previous year (310,863) and the highest number of adults in treatment since reporting began.

The number of adults entering treatment in 2024 to 2025 was 169,542, which is higher than the previous 2 years’ figures (137,749 in 2022 to 2023 and 158,991 in 2023 to 2024). The number of people entering treatment was relatively stable from 2016 to 2017 up to 2021 to 2022 but has increased year on year since then.

Trends in substance use: all adults in treatment
The number of people in each substance group grew in 2024 to 2025.

Just over two-fifths (42%) of adults in treatment were there for problems with opiates. Despite a decrease in the proportion of people in this group over time (down 6 percentage points from 48% in 2022 to 2023), it remains the largest substance group, with 138,255 people.

The proportion of adults in treatment for non-opiates (non-opiates and alcohol and non-opiates alone) has grown from 21% in 2020 to 2021 to 28% this year.

You can find more information about what the different substance groups are in the ‘People in treatment: substance, sex, age’ section.

People in treatment for alcohol alone make up the second largest group (30%) of adults in treatment. The proportion of people in this group has remained relatively stable at 30% since 2022 to 2023, despite the number of people in this group growing from 86,257 to 99,955...

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Children's substance misuse treatment statistics 2024 to 2025: report

This report presents statistics on children aged 17 and under in drug and alcohol treatment. Most children in treatment are aged 14 to 17. This age group is often referred to as ‘young people’, but because the NHS and children’s social care define young people as up to 24 years old, we have only used the term ‘children’ in the report.

Trends in treatment numbers
There were 16,212 children (aged 17 and under) in alcohol and drug treatment between April 2024 and March 2025. This is a 13% increase from the previous year (14,352). However, the number in treatment is 34% lower than the peak of 24,494 in 2008 to 2009.

Trends in substance use
Cannabis remained the most common substance (86%) that children came to treatment for.

Around 2 in 5 children in treatment (38%) said they had problems with alcohol use, 8% had problems with ecstasy and 6% reported problems with powder cocaine use.

There has been a rise in the number reporting problems with ketamine, from 512 (5%) in 2021 to 2022 to 1,465 (9%) this year, which means more children reported problems with ketamine than with ecstasy for the first time.

The number of children in treatment for solvent and inhalant misuse, which includes using nitrous oxide, continued to increase. This has risen from 329 (3%) children reporting a problem in 2021 to 2022 to 919 (6%) in 2024 to 2025...