Drug Induced Deaths in the Great Lakes Region

In 2019 there were over 74,500 drug induced deaths in the United States, or about 22.7 drug induced deaths per 100,000 population.  Almost 95% of these fatalities were attributable to drug overdoses, both intentional and accidental.  In the twenty years from 1999 to 2019, the number of drug induced deaths nationally jumped by over 50,000 per year and the death rate per 100,000 population more than tripled. While all regions of the country experienced sharp increases in the number of drug induced deaths in the twenty years from 1999 to 2019, the experience in the five-state Great Lakes region was particularly bad.  From a drug induced death rate per 100,000 population that was almost 16% below the national average in 1999, by 2019 the region's drug induced death rate was over 20% above the national average rate.  A review of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, reveals the following about drug induced deaths in the Great Lakes region.:

Drug Induced Deaths in the Great Lakes Region

State/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
IL	872	1,427	2,846
IN	251	929	1,756
MI	708	1,750	2,565
OH	534	1,340	4,440
WI	237	641	1,226
Region	2,602	6,087	12,833
U.S.	19,128	39,147	74,511
State/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
IL	7.1	11.2	22.5
IN	4.2	14.4	26.1
MI	7.2	17.7	25.7
OH	4.7	11.6	38.0
WI	4.4	11.3	21.1
Region	5.8	13.1	27.4
U.S.	6.9	12.8	22.7

(*) number of drug induced deaths per 100,000 population

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2019 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2020. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2019, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on June 5, 2021