Main countries for opium cultivation 2020, based on acreage

Afghanistan had the largest acreage devoted for opium poppy cultivation in the world in 2020, estimated at around 224 thousand hectares. In comparison, Myanmar had an area of 29,500 hectares used for the cultivation of opium poppy.

Opium production in Afghanistan

In 2020, A total area of 294 thousand hectares was devoted to the illegal cultivation of opium poppy worldwide, which makes Afghanistan the undisputed global leader in the illicit industry, accounting for more than three quarters of the world’s total acreage used for the cultivation of opium poppy. Since 2010, the volume of opium poppy production in Afghanistan has increased from 3.8 thousand tons to about 8.3 thousand tons in 2020. The analgesic alkaloid morphine can be found in opium, which is then chemically processed to produce synthetic opioids such as heroin.

Illicit drug use around the world

It is estimated that there was between 37 million and 78 million opioid users around the world in 2019, making opioids the second most used illicit drug globally after cannabis. Many synthetic opioids exist, some of which can be prescribed for medicinal use, but are also widely used in the illicit drug trade and used for recreational purposes, most notably heroin. In 2019, there were 49,860 opioid overdose deaths in the United States, of which 14,019 were deaths by heroin overdose.