Drug Induced Deaths in the Southeastern U.S.

More than 74,500 drug induced deaths in the United States, or about 22.7 deaths per 100,000 population, were recorded in 2019.  About 95% of these fatalities stemmed from drug overdoses, both intentional and accidental.  From 1999 to 2019, nationally the number of annual drug induced deaths increased by over 50,000 and the death rate per 100,000 population more than tripled. While every region of the country experienced an increase in its annual drug induced death count over the twenty years from 1999 to 2019, the experience in the twelve-state Southeastern U.S. was worse than the nation as whole.  From a drug induced death rate per 100,000 population that was nearly 22% below the national average in 1999, the Southeast's drug induced death rate was 3.5% above the national average rate by 2019.  An examination of data from the National Center for Health Statistics reveals the following trends with respect to drug induced deaths in the Southeastern U.S.:

Drug Induced Deaths in the Southeastern U.S.

State/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
AL	195	688	906
AR	121	384	404
FL	1,061	3,193	5,538
GA	347	1,043	1,502
KY	215	786	1,487
LA	246	623	1,316
MS	101	345	431
NC	401	1,223	2,378
SC	168	631	1,181
TN	374	1,000	2,219
VA	391	700	1,621
WV	80	235	934
Region	3,700	10,851	19,917
U.S.	19,128	39,147	74,511
State/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
AL	4.4	14.5	18.5
AR	4.6	13.3	13.4
FL	6.7	17.1	25.8
GA	4.3	10.8	14.1
KY	5.4	18.2	33.3
LA	5.5	13.9	28.3
MS	3.6	11.7	14.5
NC	5.0	12.9	22.7
SC	4.2	13.7	22.9
TN	6.6	15.9	32.5
VA	5.6	8.8	19.0
WV	4.4	12.7	52.1
Region	5.4	13.9	23.5
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