The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new provisional data on June 17, 2026, projecting 69,147 drug overdose deaths for the 12 months ending in January 2026, a 13.2% decline compared to the prior year. The data, released from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics using data available for analysis as of June 7, 2026, represent a continuation of the most dramatic and sustained decline in overdose mortality the United States has ever recorded.
The numbers in context are both encouraging and sobering. The 2022 peak of 107,941 overdose deaths set a grim record. The decline since that peak — from 107,941 in 2022 to 105,007 in 2023, to approximately 87,000 for the period ending September 2024, and now to 69,147 for the period ending January 2026 — represents the steepest sustained fall in overdose deaths in the country's history of tracking them. At the height of the decline in 2024, the CDC estimated more than 70 lives were being saved every single day compared to the prior year's rate.
