The United States has the highest rate of drug overdose deaths out of 30 countries, according to a new report from the health nonprofit the Commonwealth Fund.
Overdose deaths in the U.S. dipped slightly around 2018 after a years-long rise. But those deaths began to rise again in 2019 and shot up during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overdose deaths decreased slightly again in 2023 by 3 percent but still more than 100,000 people across the country died from an overdose, according to provisional CDC data.
The report ranks 30 countries and one U.S. territory from lowest to highest overdose death rate based on 2022 mortality data.
In the report, the U.S. earned the bottom spot with 324 overdose deaths per 1 million residents in 2022, followed by Puerto Rico, which was categorized separately, with 246 overdose deaths per 1 million people that year.
Scotland had the third-highest overdose death rate in 2022 with 219 overdose deaths per million people followed by Canada with 193.