Drug Induced Deaths in the Great Plains Region

More than 74,500 drug induced deaths were recorded in the United States in 2019. That's about 22.7 deaths per 100,000 population from drug induced causes.  Drug overdoses, both intentional and accidental, accounted for almost 95% of these deaths.  In the twenty year span from 1999 to 2019, the drug induced death rate per 100,000 population more than tripled in the United States.  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 seven-state Great Plains region was particularly bad.  During the same twenty year period that the national drug induced death rate more than tripled, in the Great Plains region the death rate more than quadrupled.  Although the region's death rate from drug induced causes was below the national average in 1999 and continued to be so in 2019, its drug induced death rate per 100,000 population surged from 3.6 in 1999 to 17.3 by 2019.  A examination 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 Plains region.:

Drug Induced Deaths in the Great Plains Region

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
IA	59	213	374
KS	100	318	430
MN	169	441	886
MO	294	881	1,649
NE	41	118	180
ND	15	28	95
SD	20	51	90
Region	698	2,050	3,704
U.S.	19,128	39,147	74,511
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
IA	2.0	7.0	11.9
KS	3.7	11.2	14.8
MN	3.5	8.4	15.7
MO	5.3	14.8	26.9
NE	2.4	6.5	9.3
ND	**	4.2	12.5
SD	2.7	6.3	10.2
Region	3.6	10.1	17.3
U.S.	6.9	12.8	22.7

(*) number of drug induced deaths per 100,000 population
(**) the CDC deems death rates as unreliable when the rate is calculated with a numerator less than 20

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