Drug Related Deaths in Scotland

This publication reports on the number of drug-related deaths, broken down by cause of death, selected drugs reported, age and sex. It includes tables for NHS Board and Local Authority (Council) areas.

Information on the continuity of data since 1996 can be found within the 'About this publication' link below.

About this publication (PDF 279 KB)

Separate notes provide

(i) a comparison with the drug-death rates of other countries for 2016, 2017 and 2018 (based on the data which were available in August 2019)
Drug-death rates - comparisons with other countries - 2016 2017 and 2018 - data available in August 2019  (PDF 301 KB)

Tables
(Excel    CSV)

(ii) information about the limited availability of figures for 1995 and earlier years.
Figures for drug-related deaths for Scotland for 1995 and earlier years (PDF 216 KB)

Statistics for other parts of the United Kingdom (UK)

Further information for the rest of the UK can be found via the following links:

England & Wales (Office for National Statistics website)

Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency website)

Please Note: figures for England & Wales and/or Northern Ireland may not always be on exactly the same basis as NRS's figures for Scotland: there can be differences in the coverage of what at first sight appear to be the same statistics

Contact Us

Please get in touch if you need any further information, or have any suggestions for improvement.

Statistics Customer Services telephone: (0131) 314 4299
E-mail: statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk

Lead Statistician: Frank Dixon