REPORTS
Overdose Snapshot 2025
Penington Institute’s latest Overdose Snapshot offers an early look at the data that will shape Australia’s Annual Overdose Report, to be in released August 2025.
Almost 190 Australians are dying from drug overdoses each month.
The latest data shows that in 2023, 2,272 Australians died from an overdose. To put that figure in perspective, it is the equivalent of a Boeing 737 plane full of people dying every month, and almost twice the number of Australian road deaths.
That is the conclusion of Penington Institute’s latest overdose snapshot, based on our analysis of preliminary data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The figures will likely increase after the ABS’s comprehensive revision process, but the overall narrative is already clear.
It marks the 10th consecutive year in which Australia has recorded more than 2,000 overdose deaths. It is a sombre milestone, and without urgent action, a trend that will likely continue.
The good news is we already know what works to reduce overdose deaths.
Australia needs a comprehensive national overdose strategy to end the overdose crisis rather than the current piecemeal approach.
One relatively cheap and easy solution is wider access to naloxone for potential overdose witnesses, a life-saving opioid reversal treatment already proven to save lives. All first responders in Australia should include naloxone in their medical kits, following the leadership of the Western Australia Police Force. Doing so will save lives every year.
The overdose crisis continues to take loved ones from families and communities. Governments should not merely stand by as deaths continue – national leadership is required now.
John Ryan
CEO, Penington Institute
