Victoria recorded its highest number of fatal overdoses in a decade, with 584 deaths in 2024—up from 547 in 2023 and 552 in 2022, according to the Coroners Court of Victoria’s latest report.
This equates to an average annual rate of 8.1 deaths per 100,000 people over the past 10 years.
Most deaths (73.5 percent) involved multiple drugs.
Illegal substances played an increasingly prominent role, contributing to 65.6 percent of deaths in 2024 compared to just under half 10 years ago. Heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine, and GHB all reached 10-year highs in overdose involvement.
“The concerning rise in overdose deaths and especially those involving illegal drugs is a stark reminder that we need to keep building on our harm reduction efforts,” said State Coroner Judge John Cain.
Cain added that the overdose deaths impact every community across the state.
The proportion of Victorian overdose deaths involving pharmaceutical drugs has steadily declined, accounting for 69.3 percent of deaths in 2024, down from 78 percent in 2015. Alcohol involvement has remained relatively consistent, at 24.1 percent in 2024.
Men Twice as Likely to Die
Men are twice as likely as women to die from overdose, with the highest risk in the 35–54 age group.
Metropolitan Melbourne accounts for about three-quarters of deaths, but regional areas such as Greater Geelong (35 deaths) and Hume (22) also recorded substantial tolls.
New psychoactive substances (NPS) were involved in 48 deaths, a similar figure to recent years, but remain a concern due to the rapid emergence of new variants and their potency—some nitazenes, a synthetic opioid, can be over 1,000 times stronger than morphine.
Also, most Victorian overdose deaths over the past decade were accidental or unintentional (74.5 percent), with suicides accounting for 19.3 percent. Suicide rates were higher among women (31.4 percent) compared to men (13 percent).
