Priority starts with Scotland and Northern Ireland, followed by English regions and Wales, ordered by rate. Definitions, population size and publication systems remain visible throughout.
Scotland1,133Drug use deaths · 2025
Northern Ireland251Drug-related deaths · 2024
North East rate167.6Per million · highest in England
Wales rate140.4Per million · 417 deaths
Why the North East total looks lower
Raw totals rise with population size. The North East had fewer registered deaths than larger regions such as the North West, but the highest age-standardised drug-poisoning mortality rate in England for the twelfth consecutive year. The rate, rather than the count alone, is used for the England-and-Wales harm order.
Two-area operational comparison with substance involvement
versus
ScotlandHigh1,133
drug use deaths · 2025 · separate definition
Current evidence
NRS / PHS RADAR
Evidence coverage
Strong
Any opioid / heroin-morphine
881 / 468
Cocaine / benzodiazepines
589 / 433
Pregabalin / nitazenes
330 gabapentin and/or pregabalin / 247
Hospital / ambulance
No comparable UK-wide public feed
Evidence gap
Not directly comparable with ONS drug-poisoning totals
Northern IrelandHigh251
drug-related deaths · 2024 · separate definition
Current evidence
NISRA / PSNI
Evidence coverage
Good
Any opioid / heroin-morphine
131 / 35
Cocaine / benzodiazepines
71 / 128
Pregabalin / nitazenes
101 / Not separately published
Hospital / ambulance
No comparable UK-wide public feed
Evidence gap
Separate reporting and policing systems
Regional substance data
English-region and Wales figures come from the ONS selected-substances dataset. Cocaine includes powder and crack because the mortality tables do not split them. Scotland and Northern Ireland publish different definitions and are shown from their own national tables. A blank or unpublished regional nitazene figure is not treated as zero.