Drug related death rates

Drug related deaths per 100,000 population across Scottish cities

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The rate of drug-related deaths per 100,000 population in Scotland has been increasing since 2010 and has increased in all the Scottish cities. The rate of drug deaths in Glasgow and Dundee have been consistently higher than the Scottish average throughout the period (2009-2019).

Drug related deaths per 100,000 population across the Glasgow City Region

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The rate of drug-related deaths increased overall in all the Glasgow City Region local authorities. The rate of drug related deaths was consistently higher in Glasgow from 2014. In 2019, Glasgow, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire had rates higher than the Scottish average.

Note

These data were taken from Drug-Related Deaths in Scotland in 2019, a National Records for Scotland publication.

Drug-related deaths are identified from death registrations and a specially-designed questionnaire completed by forensic pathologists. The forensic pathologists list the drugs and solvents identified for the deceased.  For further details please refer to the above report.

Trends in rates of drug related deaths in Glasgow compared to other cities in the UK are presented in the Excess Mortality section.