Pain in the nation: The epidemics of alcohol, drug, and suicide deaths

Deaths from alcohol, drugs, and suicide in the United States have risen alarmingly over the past two decades and exponentially in recent years. Between 2011 and 2021, annual deaths have more than doubled—rising from  an already startling figure of 104,379 deaths in 2011 to a staggering 209,225 deaths in 2021.1 Most of that increase was due to rising drug overdoses— although alcohol-induced deaths have increased substantially, and, to a lesser  degree, suicide deaths have risen as well. The combined rate of alcohol, drug, and suicide deaths increased by 11 percent from 2020 to 2021, and included all age, sex, racial/ethnic, and geographic groups.