HHS Reports Opioid Deaths at Lowest in Nearly a Decade: U.S. Age-Adjusted Death Rate Hit Record Low of 689.2 per 100,000 in 2025
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released new analysis from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in Detroit, Michigan, on October 27, finding that opioid-related deaths in the United States have fallen to their lowest level since President Trump declared a public health emergency in 2017, and that the overall U.S. age-adjusted death rate reached 689.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2025, the lowest ever reported. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced the findings at an event at Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network.
The ASPE report, The U.S. Age-Adjusted Death Rate Reached a Record Low in 2025: What Drove the Decline?, examines the CDC's provisional finding. A companion analysis in Health Affairs Forefront tracked pharmacy dispensing from March 2015 through March 2026 and found, on a population-adjusted basis, that opioid prescriptions dispensed fell to 45.3% of their March 2015 level, total opioid dosage dispensed fell to 35.2% of the baseline, and the number of patients receiving prescription opioids through retail pharmacies fell to 49.6% of the baseline, while patients filling retail prescriptions for buprenorphine or naltrexone, medications used to treat substance use disorders, rose to 218% of the baseline.
"President Trump has attacked the opioid crisis from every direction — rightsizing opioid prescribing, disrupting the fentanyl supply chain, and expanding treatment and recovery," Secretary Kennedy said. "Those actions are saving lives and driving opioid deaths to the lowest in nearly a decade."
During his first term, President Trump signed the 2018 SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, and the Justice Department and DEA proposed lowering 2019 manufacturing quotas for six frequently misused opioids by an average of 10%. Since returning to office in 2025, he signed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025, the DEA intensified efforts against the global fentanyl supply chain and launched its Fentanyl Free America initiative, and in January 2026 he established the Great American Recovery to align prevention, treatment, recovery support, and reentry across systems, HHS said.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：康涅狄格州签署纳洛酮（Narcan）相关法案仪式（资料图）。Dannel Malloy摄，CC BY 2.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons / Photo: Narcan bill signing ceremony (file photo). Photo by Dannel Malloy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
