Alcohol-related deaths in the United States have risen dramatically over the past decade, with a particularly sharp increase during the COVID-19 pandemic years, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
According to the KFF report, which analyzed data from the CDC’s WONDER database, the national alcohol death rate has surged by 70% between 2012 and 2022. In 2022 alone, alcohol claimed 51,191 lives, compared to 27,762 deaths in 2012. The pandemic period from 2019 to 2022 saw a staggering 30% rise in alcohol-related deaths.
The report also highlights significant disparities across states and regions. New Mexico had the highest alcohol death rate in 2022 at 42.7 per 100,000 people, more than six times higher than Hawaii’s rate of 7.1 per 100,000, the lowest in the nation. While all states experienced increases in alcohol death rates over the past decade, the magnitude of these increases varied widely. For example, Connecticut saw a 167% rise, while the District of Columbia had a relatively lower increase of 24%.
Rural areas were found to have higher rates of alcohol deaths and experienced greater increases in death rates compared to urban areas, both over the past decade and during the pandemic years.
The KFF analysis focused on deaths directly caused by alcohol-related conditions, such as alcohol-related liver diseases. The report underscores the urgent need for targeted interventions and policies to address the growing crisis of alcohol-related deaths in the United States.
See “A Look at the Latest Alcohol Death Data and Change Over the Last Decade” (May 23, 2024)
