Release note

5,519 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in England and Wales in 2025

ONS's yearly count of deaths from drug poisoning: how many, where in England and Wales, and which drugs were involved. Then what the Ministry of Justice prints about people on probation.

4 Nov 2026 · printed as each edition was released, never revised

Office for National Statistics: Deaths related to drug poisoning by local authority, England and Wales (Tables 1, 2 and 3); Reference: Deaths registered in 2025; rates for 2023 to 2025Released: 4 November 2026
Office for National Statistics: Deaths related to drug poisoning by selected substances, England and Wales; Reference: Deaths registered 1993 to 2025Released: 4 November 2026
Ministry of Justice: Deaths of offenders supervised in the community, England and Wales (Table 1); Reference: April 2025 to March 2026 (provisional)Released: 29 October 2026

Main points

5,519 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in England and Wales in 2025.
Of these, 3,615 were deaths related to drug misuse: illegal drugs, or drug dependence.
England registered 5,078 and Wales 422. Adjusted for age, ONS puts the rate over 2023 to 2025 at 9.0 per 100,000 people in England and 13.7 in Wales.
Middlesbrough had the highest council rate, 29.1 per 100,000.
Cocaine was mentioned on 1,233 death certificates, and heroin or morphine on 1,210.

What is counted

A death related to drug poisoning is any death where a drug caused the poisoning. That includes medicines bought over the counter or prescribed, and suicides. A death related to drug misuse is the smaller group involving an illegal drug or drug dependence.

Deaths are counted in the year they were registered, not the year they happened. An inquest can take months, so many deaths registered in 2025 happened earlier.

Council by council

ONS prints a rate for each council over three years together, 2023 to 2025, adjusted for the age of its people so places can be compared. It does not print a rate where fewer than ten people died, and those councils are hatched.

Deaths related to drug poisoning, per 100,000 people, adjusted for age 2023 to 2025, by council

Hover or tap an area for its figure, or use the arrow keys.

2.4 to 5.7
5.8 to 7.3
7.4 to 9.3
9.4 to 12.7
12.9 to 29.1
not published

No figure published for 7 areas: City of London, Hart, Isles of Scilly, Melton, Rutland, South Oxfordshire, South Staffordshire.

Boundaries: ONS Local Authority Districts May 2025 UK BGC (V2).

Office for National Statistics, Deaths related to drug poisoning by local authority, England and Wales (Tables 1, 2 and 3) · Reference: 2023 to 2025 · Released: 4 November 2026

Highest

Middlesbrough29.1
Blackpool26.8
North East Lincolnshire26.2
Merthyr Tydfil24.8
Chesterfield23.8

Lowest

New Forest2.4
Redbridge3.3
Wokingham3.7
Waverley3.7
Harborough3.7

Per 100,000 people, 2023 to 2025. England 9.0, Wales 13.7. Scotland is not drawn: National Records of Scotland counts its own deaths on a different definition, and no one prints a figure for the three nations together.

Find your council

Council


Adur	5	2	8.1(4.5 to 13.3)
Amber Valley	10	9	11.0(7.9 to 15.0)
Arun	17	10	11.2(8.3 to 14.7)
Ashfield	11	3	8.9(6.1 to 12.4)
Ashford	11	7	5.2(3.2 to 8.0)
Babergh	2	2	5.1(2.8 to 8.7)
Barking and Dagenham	5	4	3.8(2.5 to 5.6)
Barnet	26	23	5.8(4.5 to 7.3)
Barnsley	36	29	13.4(10.8 to 16.4)
Basildon	9	5	5.9(4.0 to 8.3)
Basingstoke and Deane	17	7	6.2(4.3 to 8.6)
Bassetlaw	17	7	15.0(11.2 to 19.8)
Bath and North East Somerset	15	11	8.6(6.3 to 11.5)
Bedford	20	16	7.4(5.3 to 10.0)
Bexley	8	5	4.6(3.2 to 6.4)
Birmingham	135	117	12.6(11.4 to 13.9)
Blaby	6	6	4.4(2.4 to 7.5)
Blackburn with Darwen	15	4	10.9(8.1 to 14.4)
Blackpool	23	11	26.8(21.6 to 31.9)
Blaenau Gwent	6	5	14.4(9.6 to 20.9)
Bolsover	9	6	12.1(8.1 to 17.4)
Bolton	29	14	12.5(10.1 to 14.8)
Boston	7	6	12.9(8.5 to 18.8)
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	52	44	14.0(11.9 to 16.2)
Bracknell Forest	5	2	7.2(4.8 to 10.3)
Bradford	49	44	11.8(10.1 to 13.5)
Braintree	10	6	6.3(4.3 to 9.0)
Breckland	7	4	7.6(5.1 to 11.0)
Brent	18	14	5.6(4.2 to 7.3)
Brentwood	1	1	5.2(2.7 to 8.9)
Bridgend	24	19	16.6(12.9 to 21.0)
Brighton and Hove	50	36	16.0(13.3 to 18.7)
Bristol, City of	57	45	12.6(10.7 to 14.6)
Broadland	11	7	4.8(2.9 to 7.4)
Bromley	14	11	5.4(4.0 to 7.0)
Bromsgrove	2	2	3.7(1.8 to 6.6)
Broxbourne	7	7	6.3(3.8 to 9.9)
Broxtowe	13	7	7.6(5.0 to 11.2)
Buckinghamshire	24	18	5.1(4.0 to 6.3)
Burnley	17	6	16.7(12.2 to 22.3)
Bury	21	14	9.8(7.4 to 12.8)
Caerphilly	26	21	15.2(12.0 to 19.1)
Calderdale	32	26	14.1(11.3 to 17.5)
Cambridge	6	5	8.3(5.6 to 11.8)
Camden	23	17	12.9(10.0 to 16.2)
Cannock Chase	3	3	4.9(2.7 to 8.2)
Canterbury	21	11	10.4(7.6 to 13.9)
Cardiff	41	28	11.6(9.5 to 13.8)
Carmarthenshire	16	11	15.1(11.9 to 18.9)
Castle Point	6	5	6.6(3.8 to 10.6)
Central Bedfordshire	14	6	4.4(3.1 to 6.0)
Ceredigion	12	7	10.8(6.5 to 16.7)
Charnwood	14	8	8.1(5.8 to 10.9)
Chelmsford	9	2	5.4(3.6 to 7.7)
Cheltenham	10	3	6.2(3.9 to 9.4)
Cherwell	11	6	5.7(3.8 to 8.2)
Cheshire East	27	17	8.5(6.9 to 10.2)
Cheshire West and Chester	17	11	6.7(5.2 to 8.5)
Chesterfield	33	29	23.8(18.6 to 30.0)
Chichester	6	4	5.0(2.9 to 8.1)
Chorley	8	3	10.4(7.3 to 14.5)
City of London	1	1	not published
Colchester	20	13	11.1(8.6 to 14.2)
Conwy	19	11	15.6(11.4 to 20.8)
Cornwall	57	46	10.7(9.1 to 12.3)
Cotswold	4	3	4.5(2.3 to 8.0)
County Durham	62	48	14.8(12.9 to 16.8)
Coventry	37	30	11.6(9.5 to 13.8)
Crawley	9	6	6.7(4.3 to 9.9)
Croydon	18	13	5.1(3.9 to 6.6)
Cumberland	47	25	21.6(18.3 to 25.0)
Dacorum	12	11	7.5(5.2 to 10.4)
Darlington	12	8	12.4(8.9 to 16.9)
Dartford	4	2	4.3(2.4 to 7.1)
Denbighshire	12	9	11.7(7.9 to 16.6)
Derby	34	28	10.4(8.3 to 13.0)
Derbyshire Dales	5	3	5.7(2.9 to 10.0)
Doncaster	39	22	14.0(11.6 to 16.4)
Dorset	33	22	7.5(5.9 to 9.3)
Dover	13	11	8.7(5.8 to 12.5)
Dudley	18	13	6.8(5.2 to 8.7)
Ealing	17	13	4.7(3.5 to 6.1)
East Cambridgeshire	6	2	6.1(3.5 to 9.7)
East Devon	5	4	7.4(4.9 to 10.6)
East Hampshire	8	6	5.9(3.6 to 9.0)
East Hertfordshire	10	6	4.4(2.7 to 6.9)
East Lindsey	15	9	15.7(11.7 to 20.6)
East Riding of Yorkshire	30	17	8.1(6.4 to 10.0)
East Staffordshire	5	3	4.4(2.5 to 7.1)
East Suffolk	11	7	5.4(3.8 to 7.6)
Eastbourne	13	3	15.8(11.5 to 21.1)
Eastleigh	9	4	3.9(2.2 to 6.3)
Elmbridge	7	5	7.4(4.9 to 10.7)
Enfield	15	10	6.2(4.7 to 7.9)
Epping Forest	3	2	3.8(2.1 to 6.3)
Epsom and Ewell	4	2	5.6(3.0 to 9.4)
Erewash	14	10	8.1(5.4 to 11.8)
Exeter	16	10	13.7(10.2 to 17.9)
Fareham	5	4	5.1(2.9 to 8.2)
Fenland	8	7	7.2(4.4 to 11.0)
Flintshire	17	12	9.6(7.0 to 13.0)
Folkestone and Hythe	8	5	11.8(8.4 to 16.2)
Forest of Dean	7	7	7.9(4.7 to 12.4)
Fylde	9	6	10.2(6.4 to 15.3)
Gateshead	30	24	17.6(14.1 to 21.0)
Gedling	10	5	7.9(5.3 to 11.5)
Gloucester	15	11	12.1(8.8 to 16.1)
Gosport	6	4	13.9(9.5 to 19.6)
Gravesham	13	4	7.9(5.2 to 11.6)
Great Yarmouth	13	9	10.0(6.6 to 14.4)
Greenwich	22	16	6.1(4.5 to 8.1)
Guildford	9	6	7.1(4.8 to 10.2)
Gwynedd	20	11	15.4(11.3 to 20.4)
Hackney	21	18	9.9(7.6 to 12.7)
Halton	7	4	8.7(6.0 to 12.2)
Hammersmith and Fulham	20	14	9.1(6.7 to 12.1)
Harborough	5	3	3.7(1.9 to 6.5)
Haringey	22	14	8.2(6.3 to 10.6)
Harlow	11	5	8.5(5.4 to 12.7)
Harrow	7	4	4.1(2.8 to 5.7)
Hart	3	2	not published
Hartlepool	16	6	19.7(14.7 to 25.8)
Hastings	12	6	17.6(12.9 to 23.5)
Havant	22	13	9.9(6.9 to 13.7)
Havering	13	6	5.0(3.5 to 6.8)
Herefordshire, County of	17	10	9.4(6.9 to 12.5)
Hertsmere	9	6	7.9(5.2 to 11.6)
High Peak	6	6	12.5(8.5 to 17.6)
Hillingdon	14	11	6.2(4.7 to 8.1)
Hinckley and Bosworth	7	5	6.2(3.8 to 9.5)
Horsham	9	7	5.2(3.3 to 7.9)
Hounslow	13	9	4.3(3.0 to 5.9)
Huntingdonshire	14	9	5.8(4.0 to 8.2)
Hyndburn	12	3	13.8(9.5 to 19.2)
Ipswich	10	5	7.5(5.1 to 10.8)
Isle of Anglesey	12	2	11.4(7.0 to 17.4)
Isle of Wight	35	30	13.6(10.0 to 18.0)
Isles of Scilly	0	0	not published
Islington	23	18	13.0(10.1 to 16.4)
Kensington and Chelsea	9	8	9.5(6.7 to 12.9)
King's Lynn and West Norfolk	13	8	9.8(7.0 to 13.3)
Kingston upon Hull, City of	53	31	17.8(14.8 to 20.8)
Kingston upon Thames	7	3	5.2(3.4 to 7.6)
Kirklees	35	28	8.3(6.7 to 9.9)
Knowsley	27	18	13.9(10.7 to 17.8)
Lambeth	23	20	8.2(6.4 to 10.5)
Lancaster	16	7	15.6(11.9 to 20.2)
Leeds	83	71	11.1(9.7 to 12.5)
Leicester	20	13	7.3(5.7 to 9.1)
Lewes	11	9	8.4(5.3 to 12.6)
Lewisham	19	15	7.2(5.5 to 9.3)
Lichfield	6	4	6.6(4.1 to 10.1)
Lincoln	8	5	14.6(10.4 to 19.9)
Liverpool	75	41	17.3(15.1 to 19.6)
Luton	17	9	8.1(6.0 to 10.7)
Maidstone	17	9	8.3(6.1 to 11.1)
Maldon	4	3	5.6(2.8 to 9.9)
Malvern Hills	5	3	5.9(3.3 to 9.8)
Manchester	66	55	15.1(13.0 to 17.2)
Mansfield	16	5	15.1(11.2 to 19.9)
Medway	24	14	9.0(7.0 to 11.2)
Melton	5	3	not published
Merthyr Tydfil	13	8	24.8(17.7 to 33.7)
Merton	11	2	5.9(4.1 to 8.2)
Mid Devon	3	2	7.7(4.4 to 12.5)
Mid Suffolk	4	0	4.0(2.1 to 6.9)
Mid Sussex	7	3	4.2(2.6 to 6.6)
Middlesbrough	27	11	29.1(23.8 to 34.5)
Milton Keynes	20	16	5.3(3.9 to 7.1)
Mole Valley	7	2	5.7(3.2 to 9.3)
Monmouthshire	10	5	13.9(9.7 to 19.3)
Neath Port Talbot	15	11	13.4(10.1 to 17.6)
New Forest	4	2	2.4(1.2 to 4.3)
Newark and Sherwood	10	3	9.7(6.7 to 13.5)
Newcastle upon Tyne	44	36	14.0(11.4 to 16.6)
Newcastle-under-Lyme	6	4	8.6(5.8 to 12.4)
Newham	17	16	4.6(3.2 to 6.4)
Newport	24	22	14.4(11.2 to 18.2)
North Devon	4	4	10.7(7.0 to 15.5)
North East Derbyshire	9	8	9.3(6.1 to 13.6)
North East Lincolnshire	60	28	26.2(21.4 to 31.0)
North Hertfordshire	7	4	4.8(2.9 to 7.4)
North Kesteven	3	3	6.1(3.8 to 9.3)
North Lincolnshire	36	19	13.4(10.3 to 17.2)
North Norfolk	10	8	9.0(5.6 to 13.6)
North Northamptonshire	39	31	9.1(7.3 to 10.9)
North Somerset	20	16	9.1(6.9 to 11.8)
North Tyneside	21	20	12.7(10.1 to 15.9)
North Warwickshire	6	3	6.8(3.6 to 11.6)
North West Leicestershire	11	9	6.2(3.8 to 9.4)
North Yorkshire	54	17	10.6(9.1 to 12.2)
Northumberland	45	30	15.3(12.6 to 17.9)
Norwich	26	12	18.9(14.8 to 23.8)
Nottingham	34	11	16.4(13.5 to 19.2)
Nuneaton and Bedworth	11	6	8.3(5.7 to 11.6)
Oadby and Wigston	7	7	7.0(3.6 to 12.2)
Oldham	18	13	7.7(5.8 to 10.1)
Oxford	10	9	6.8(4.5 to 10.0)
Pembrokeshire	14	10	11.6(8.1 to 16.0)
Pendle	14	2	16.3(11.9 to 21.9)
Peterborough	28	15	11.4(8.9 to 14.4)
Plymouth	64	51	16.0(13.2 to 18.9)
Portsmouth	41	27	18.2(14.7 to 21.7)
Powys	8	4	6.9(4.4 to 10.3)
Preston	24	7	16.1(12.6 to 20.2)
Reading	11	10	7.4(5.2 to 10.1)
Redbridge	8	6	3.3(2.2 to 4.8)
Redcar and Cleveland	23	10	23.2(18.5 to 28.7)
Redditch	5	2	7.5(4.5 to 11.7)
Reigate and Banstead	10	3	5.4(3.6 to 8.0)
Rhondda Cynon Taf	43	30	16.2(13.1 to 19.2)
Ribble Valley	4	1	8.3(4.5 to 13.7)
Richmond upon Thames	13	6	5.7(3.9 to 8.0)
Rochdale	28	19	10.4(8.1 to 13.2)
Rochford	2	2	4.2(2.1 to 7.6)
Rossendale	8	2	9.3(5.7 to 14.3)
Rother	7	0	6.2(3.5 to 10.3)
Rotherham	31	12	12.7(10.2 to 15.2)
Rugby	11	8	7.9(5.2 to 11.5)
Runnymede	6	4	7.7(4.7 to 11.9)
Rushcliffe	7	3	6.8(4.4 to 10.1)
Rushmoor	11	7	9.7(6.5 to 13.9)
Rutland	3	3	not published
Salford	29	13	10.1(7.9 to 12.6)
Sandwell	30	19	5.9(4.5 to 7.6)
Sefton	47	27	13.1(10.7 to 15.6)
Sevenoaks	8	3	4.0(2.2 to 6.8)
Sheffield	51	40	9.9(8.3 to 11.4)
Shropshire	24	14	7.0(5.4 to 9.0)
Slough	13	8	9.0(6.4 to 12.3)
Solihull	9	9	5.0(3.4 to 7.1)
Somerset	52	37	9.3(7.8 to 10.8)
South Cambridgeshire	7	4	4.6(2.8 to 6.9)
South Derbyshire	7	5	5.8(3.5 to 9.0)
South Gloucestershire	11	8	4.3(3.0 to 5.9)
South Hams	6	3	5.2(2.8 to 9.0)
South Holland	7	2	6.6(3.9 to 10.3)
South Kesteven	11	7	7.5(5.1 to 10.6)
South Norfolk	7	5	5.7(3.7 to 8.4)
South Oxfordshire	6	5	not published
South Ribble	14	7	10.0(6.9 to 14.0)
South Staffordshire	2	1	not published
South Tyneside	10	7	12.5(9.3 to 16.3)
Southampton	36	16	12.0(9.5 to 14.9)
Southend-on-Sea	18	8	10.1(7.6 to 13.2)
Southwark	30	23	9.1(7.2 to 11.4)
Spelthorne	8	5	6.4(3.9 to 9.9)
St Albans	6	4	4.2(2.5 to 6.6)
St. Helens	32	13	16.5(13.3 to 20.3)
Stafford	12	9	8.4(5.8 to 11.8)
Staffordshire Moorlands	8	6	7.8(4.6 to 12.2)
Stevenage	9	6	6.1(3.5 to 10.0)
Stockport	20	11	8.6(6.8 to 10.7)
Stockton-on-Tees	24	10	17.0(13.8 to 20.7)
Stoke-on-Trent	33	24	11.4(9.1 to 14.1)
Stratford-on-Avon	6	4	5.2(3.2 to 8.1)
Stroud	6	6	5.9(3.6 to 9.1)
Sunderland	35	28	14.0(11.5 to 16.6)
Surrey Heath	6	2	6.1(3.6 to 9.8)
Sutton	13	8	6.6(4.7 to 9.0)
Swale	8	3	6.9(4.7 to 9.8)
Swansea	58	38	21.7(18.1 to 25.2)
Swindon	26	21	6.2(4.5 to 8.3)
Tameside	34	19	13.2(10.6 to 16.3)
Tamworth	6	3	7.5(4.5 to 11.9)
Tandridge	4	3	4.5(2.2 to 8.1)
Teignbridge	15	9	6.4(4.1 to 9.5)
Telford and Wrekin	17	9	8.3(6.1 to 11.1)
Tendring	15	8	10.7(7.8 to 14.4)
Test Valley	15	9	9.9(7.0 to 13.5)
Tewkesbury	4	3	4.0(2.0 to 7.2)
Thanet	17	12	10.7(7.7 to 14.4)
Three Rivers	6	4	7.3(4.5 to 11.1)
Thurrock	11	5	5.7(3.9 to 8.2)
Tonbridge and Malling	8	6	5.7(3.6 to 8.6)
Torbay	19	12	12.2(8.9 to 16.4)
Torfaen	12	9	13.8(9.7 to 19.0)
Torridge	4	4	10.1(5.8 to 16.3)
Tower Hamlets	17	13	6.7(4.8 to 9.0)
Trafford	19	13	8.6(6.5 to 11.0)
Tunbridge Wells	10	4	5.9(3.6 to 9.1)
Uttlesford	4	3	3.9(1.8 to 7.1)
Vale of Glamorgan	8	6	8.7(6.0 to 12.2)
Vale of White Horse	12	9	5.6(3.5 to 8.3)
Wakefield	41	31	12.1(10.0 to 14.2)
Walsall	18	15	7.0(5.3 to 9.1)
Waltham Forest	17	10	6.1(4.5 to 8.1)
Wandsworth	18	8	7.8(6.0 to 9.9)
Warrington	15	10	7.0(5.1 to 9.5)
Warwick	15	12	12.0(9.0 to 15.6)
Watford	12	7	7.2(4.6 to 10.8)
Waverley	5	3	3.7(2.0 to 6.3)
Wealden	10	6	5.6(3.7 to 8.1)
Welwyn Hatfield	10	7	6.7(4.2 to 10.1)
West Berkshire	9	6	4.7(2.9 to 7.1)
West Devon	3	3	5.6(2.5 to 10.6)
West Lancashire	7	3	7.5(4.9 to 11.0)
West Lindsey	7	4	10.1(6.7 to 14.6)
West Northamptonshire	42	31	8.6(7.0 to 10.1)
West Oxfordshire	4	3	5.1(2.9 to 8.2)
West Suffolk	5	1	5.2(3.4 to 7.5)
Westminster	16	13	8.1(6.0 to 10.7)
Westmorland and Furness	15	14	11.8(9.2 to 14.8)
Wigan	37	16	12.1(9.9 to 14.3)
Wiltshire	33	18	6.2(5.0 to 7.6)
Winchester	11	5	6.0(3.8 to 9.1)
Windsor and Maidenhead	17	7	6.4(4.3 to 9.2)
Wirral	55	34	14.6(12.1 to 17.0)
Woking	1	1	4.3(2.3 to 7.4)
Wokingham	7	4	3.7(2.2 to 5.8)
Wolverhampton	16	13	10.7(8.6 to 13.3)
Worcester	10	7	10.4(7.1 to 14.6)
Worthing	10	7	8.3(5.5 to 12.0)
Wrexham	12	9	8.4(5.8 to 11.8)
Wychavon	4	3	6.1(3.8 to 9.1)
Wyre	15	8	12.5(8.8 to 17.2)
Wyre Forest	6	4	9.5(6.2 to 13.9)
York	27	14	15.0(11.9 to 18.6)

Deaths related to drug poisoning, and of those, drug misuse. Rate per 100,000 people, adjusted for age; in brackets, the range ONS gives for it. 7 councils had too few deaths for ONS to print a rate.

People on probation

The Ministry of Justice counts people who die while supervised by the Probation Service, after prison or on a community sentence. Its figures for April 2025 to March 2026, published on 29 October 2026, are provisional and cover England and Wales together.

It counted 1,440 deaths. 305 were recorded as self-inflicted and 495 as other deaths that were not natural. Drug poisonings are counted inside these two groups: one taken on purpose or of unclear intent in the first, one by accident in the second. The ministry does not print how many were drug poisonings, or a figure for Wales alone.

The Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, in its Prisons, Punishment and Sentencing in Wales: 2025 Factfile, wrote that these deaths "raise serious doubts over whether the Welsh Government's initiatives to address substance use and support individuals during the transition from custody to the community are fit for purpose."

A Welsh Government spokesperson told BBC Wales: "Every drug-related death is a tragedy. We are working closely with health boards, local authorities, Public Health Wales and other key partners to reduce the harms caused by substance misuse, focusing on early intervention, prevention, treatment and recovery support."

Ministry of Justice, Deaths of offenders supervised in the community, England and Wales (Table 1) · Reference: 2025 to 2026 (provisional) · Released: 29 October 2026 · Quotes as reported by Nation.Cymru, 27 October 2026

The longer run: the drugs involved

ONS counts a death under every drug named on the death certificate. One death can involve heroin, cocaine and a benzodiazepine at once, so it is counted under all three. These counts do not add up to the total, and each chart has its own scale.

In 2025, cocaine was mentioned on 1,233 death certificates and heroin or morphine on 1,210. Nitazenes, a group of strong man-made opioids, were mentioned on 150.

Heroin or morphine Deaths mentioning it, England and Wales, 1993 to 2025