Main points

• In England and Wales, 5,519 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in 2025, the equivalent of 92.4 deaths per million people; overall, this was the first annual decrease in the age-standardised mortality rate since 2012, down from 93.9 deaths per million and 5,565 deaths in 2024.
• The drug-poisoning mortality rate increased among males to 130.0 deaths per million in 2025, while the rate among females decreased to 56.6 deaths per million; the difference between male and female mortality widened compared with 2024.
• There were 3,615 deaths related to drug misuse registered in 2025, equivalent to 60.6 deaths per million people and down from 63.1 deaths per million in 2024; people aged 40 to 49 years continued to have the highest death rate, at 141.4 deaths per million.
• Cocaine was the most frequently mentioned specific substance involved in drug-poisoning deaths registered in 2025, with 1,233 deaths, overtaking heroin or morphine (1,210 deaths); opiates and opioids remained the most frequently mentioned substance group and were involved in 2,324 deaths, 11.3% fewer than in 2024.
• The North East continued to have the highest drug-poisoning mortality rate, despite a decrease from 167.6 deaths per million people in 2024 to 135.2 in 2025 (the largest decrease among English regions); London had the lowest rate at 58.3 deaths per million.
• In Wales, there were 422 deaths related to drug poisoning registered in 2025, equivalent to 141.3 deaths per million people; this was higher than the rate in England (89.5 deaths per million people), and 0.6% higher than the rate of 140.4 deaths per million people in Wales in 2024.