Death rate from opioid overdose in the U.S. in 2021, by race/ethnicity

The National Vital Statistics System multiple cause-of-death mortality files were used to identify drug overdose deaths. Drug overdose deaths were classified using the International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), based on the ICD-10 underlying cause-of-death codes X40–44 (unintentional), X60–64 (suicide), X85 (homicide), or Y10–Y14 (undetermined intent). Among the deaths with drug overdose as the underlying cause, the type of opioid involved is indicated by the following ICD-10 multiple cause-of-death codes: opioids (T40.0, T40.1, T40.2, T40.3, T40.4, or T40.6); natural and semisynthetic opioids (T40.2); methadone (T40.3); synthetic opioids, other than methadone (T40.4); and heroin (T40.1).
Other races are excluded from this table.
Deaths from illegally-made fentanyl cannot be distinguished from pharmaceutical fentanyl in the data source. For this reason, deaths from both legally prescribed and illegally produced fentanyl are included in these data.
Release date represents the date figures were accessed.