Overdose deaths in Kentucky decreased for the fourth year in a row, with a 22.9% decrease in 2025 compared to the year before, and a 50.8% decrease from 2021, which saw the highest number of overdose deaths ever in Kentucky.
The 2025 Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Report, released Thursday, April 30, shows 1,110 Kentuckians died from an overdose last year, down from 1,410 in 2024.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Thursday the second-largest decrease recorded since the state began reporting overdose deaths in 2012.
“While we take pride in this progress, we also mourn the 1,110 Kentuckians who lost their lives last year due to a drug overdose,” Beshear said. “In honor of those lost to addiction, we must keep working every day for the inches that become the miles of progress, because that’s how we save more Kentuckians from addiction and help protect more families from the heartbreak and pain that comes with this disease.”
The 2025 drop in overdose deaths is lower than the 2024 drop of 30.2%, which has since been adjusted to a 28.8% drop as new death certificates have been entered into the database. The totals far exceed the 9.8 % drop in 2023 and the 2.5% drop in 2022, which was the first drop in Kentucky overdose deaths since 2018.
Black Kentuckians saw a drop in overdose deaths for the second year in a row after not previously seeing a decrease. In 2025, Black Kentuckians saw a 25.4% decrease in overdose deaths, from 173 deaths in 2024 to 129 deaths in 2025. Last year’s report shows a 37.3% drop between 2023 and 2024.
Still, the overdose death rate among Black Kentuckians remains higher than that of white Kentuckians. The 2025 overdose death rate among Black residents was 31.7 deaths per 100,000 Black residents, compared to 24.5 deaths per 100,000 white residents, a 29.4% difference.
Toxicology results showed that fentanyl was present in 504 drug overdose deaths, or 45.4% (down from 62.3% in 2024), and methamphetamine was present in 549 drug overdose deaths, or 49.5% (down from 50.8% in 2024). The two continue to be the most prevalent drugs contributing to overdose deaths in the state.
The report also indicates that all but two Kentucky age groups saw a decrease in overdose deaths. The only increases in overdose deaths were among those ages 65 to 74, with an increase from 93 in 2024 to 103 in 2025, and those 85+, with an increase of less than five to five.
Those 45- to 54-year-olds saw the highest number of drug overdose deaths in 2025, at 299, a decrease of 22.3% from the 385 deaths among that age group in 2024.
Rockcastle County had the highest age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths, at 78.8 deaths per 100,000 residents. After that came Estill (66.9), Boyd (65.5), Garrard (59.4) and Floyd (55.6).
Rates for 81 of the state’s 120 counties were not released because they had counts greater than zero but less than five, and rates based on counts greater than zero but less than 10.
Office of Drug Control Policy Executive Director Van Ingram, who has held this position since 2004, said the good news is that Kentucky continues to be headed in the right direction.
“It’s been a long fight,” Ingram said. “There were days that it just seemed impossible, but for the fourth year in a row to see these numbers come down, I can’t tell you what it means to folks out in the field all across this state that toil every day, working with people in addiction, doing everything they can to help them get in recovery and stay in recovery.”
Ingram also pointed to the 43% reduction in fentanyl involved in the state’s fatal overdoses.
Data for the report came from the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office, Kentucky coroners, the Kentucky Injury Prevention & Research Center, and the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics.
Kentuckians who are struggling with addiction or who are concerned about a family member’s substance use can search for treatment providers at FindHelpNowKy.org or contact the KY HELP Statewide Call Center at 1-8338-KY-HELP (1-833-859-4357). Also, Ingram said naloxone, which quickly reverses an opioid overdose by blocking its effects, is available for anyone who asks for it at findnaloxone.ky.gov.
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
