US drug overdose deaths dropped for third straight year in 2025, CDC data shows

Drug overdose deaths in the United States fell nearly 14% in 2025, federal estimates showed on Wednesday, marking a third consecutive year of declines.

Here are some details:

• Nearly 69,973 people died from drug overdose in the U.S. in 2025, compared with 81,313 deaths estimated a year earlier, according to provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• The wide availability of a medication called naloxone, a potent overdose antidote, has significantly contributed to the drop, according to experts.

• Deaths involving opioids fell to an estimated 44,564 in 2025 from 55,296 a year earlier, the CDC estimates showed.

• Synthetic opioids, including Fentanyl, are the single largest contributor to overdose deaths in the country.

• While most states across the nation showed declines in overdose deaths, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado had increases of 10% or more compared to the same period in 2024, the report said.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 7:04 AM.