Drug deaths causing UK mortality to fall behind other high income countries, analysis finds

A sharp rise in drug related deaths in recent years is largely responsible for the UK’s mortality worsening compared with other high income countries, an analysis has found.

The UK rate of drug related deaths was more than three times higher in 2019 than the average of peer countries, a report1 by the Health Foundation found.

Mortality for men and women in the UK fell between 1990 and 2023, but most of this improvement happened before the early 2010s. Between 2011 and 2019, the rate of improvement slowed and stagnated.

Jennifer Dixon, the Health Foundation’s chief executive, said, “The UK is becoming the sick person of the wealthy world, especially for people of working age. While other nations moved forward, we stalled—and in some areas, slipped badly behind.”