Top 10 · health
Top 10 countries with the lowest drug deaths
Drug overdose deaths per 100,000 population. IHME / UNODC data, each country's latest year, 2018–2023, covering 36 countries.
The top 10
1st of 36 · 2023
Bulgaria0.9 per 100k
The other end · bottom 5 of 36
Where the big countries land
- 17thGermany2.8 per 100k
Common questions
Questions people ask about drug deaths
Which country has the lowest drug deaths?
Bulgaria ranks 1st of 36 countries at 0.9 per 100k (2023 data). Source: IHME / UNODC.
Which countries are in the top 10 for drug deaths?
The top 10 are Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, Türkiye, Hungary, Portugal, Austria, Netherlands, Slovakia and Cyprus — computed from IHME / UNODC data, each country's latest year, 2018–2023.
What is the median drug deaths worldwide?
Across the 36 countries covered, the median is 2.9 per 100k. Values run from 0.9 per 100k (Bulgaria, ranked 1st) to 16.8 per 100k (Estonia, ranked 36th).
Which country has the highest drug deaths?
Estonia sits at the other end of the list: 16.8 per 100k ranks 36th of 36 (2023 data). Source: IHME / UNODC.
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More on health
- Life expectancyPeriod life expectancy at birth.
- Health coverageShare of population with health insurance or public coverage.
- ObesityShare of adults with BMI ≥ 30.
- Infant mortalityDeaths before age one per 1,000 live births.
- Suicide rateDeaths by intentional self-harm per 100,000 population.
- HappinessSelf-reported life satisfaction (Cantril ladder, 0–10), World Happiness Report.
Who leads the world
- Monacotops life expectancy86.5 years
- Singaporetops homicide rate0.1 per 100k
- Bulgariatops paid maternity leave59 weeks
Bulgaria leads on drug deaths — see where it lands on every other measure, and which US state it most resembles.
From the blog: WHO, UNODC, and the problem of counting deaths · Census, BEA, CDC, BLS: why US state data is unusually good
All 68 measures →Every country ranked →Every US state →All the Top 10s →The overall board →How we read the data →