OD REPORT BY-THE-NUMBERS

2,125 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths in 2023. That is 232 fewer than in 2022, when Massachusetts had a record 2,357 fatal opioid-related overdoses.
The overdose death rate decreased by 10% — from 33.5 per 100,000 people in 2022 to 30.2 in 2023.
The decline in opioid-related overdose deaths last year was significant among white, non-Hispanic men, whose overdose death rate dropped 16% between 2022 and 2023.
But Black, non-Hispanic men saw the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths increase from 80 per 100,000 people in 2022 to 84.6 in 2023.
The state’s most rural areas continued to record the highest opioid-related overdose death rate at 35.6 per 100,000 residents compared to urban, suburban, and less rural areas.
Males comprised of 72% of all opioid-related overdose deaths in 2023.
The largest opioid-related overdose death decreases in 2023 were seen in Essex County (-21.7 percent), Middlesex County (-20.8 percent), Plymouth County (-18.9 percent), and Worcester County (-16 percent).
Cities and towns that experienced a notable decrease in opioid-related overdose deaths in 2023 compared with 2022 were: Brockton, Cambridge, Falmouth, Lawrence, Leominster, Lynn, Pittsfield, Randolph, Waltham, and Wareham.
Cities and towns that experienced a notable increase in opioid-related overdose deaths in 2023 compared with 2022 were: Holyoke and Taunton.