Opioids More Likely to Kill Than Car Crashes or Suicide

The National Safety Council reports that Americans are more likely to die from an opioid overdose than a car crash or suicide. The likelihood of dying from opioid use in the U.S. increased from lifetime odds of one in 96 in 2017 to one in 55 in 2022. The same year, someone living in the U.S. only had one in 87 odds of dying of suicide and a one in 93 chance of dying in a car crash.

Potent and deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl - which is often mixed with heroin without the knowledge of drug users - contributed to this dismal development together with the ongoing crisis of prescription pain killer misuse. The U.S. experienced more than 108,000 overdose deaths in 2023, with a severe uptick during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The most likely cause of death in the U.S. continues to be heart disease with lifetime odds of 1 in 6, followed by cancer, Covid-19 and chronic lower respiratory disease. The Covid-19 lifetime odds are modeled on 2022 deaths in the U.S.. They have been falling and might continue to so in future years.

Despite being a common fear, the chances of dying due to gun assault stand at only one in 219, but are still greater than drowning or choking to death, which have odds of around one in 1,000 and and one in 2,500, respectively. Dying in a dog attack remains highly unlikely with the chances of that happening at one in 43,882. Dying in a hurricane or tornado or any other storm event is actually more likely at one in 27,925.