Drug-related deaths in Bulgaria over the period 2012 – 2025 (data from special registries)

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Drug-related deaths in Bulgaria over the period 2012 – 2025 (total)

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Number of drug-related deaths	36	46	31	28	33	32	39	28	70	45	46	47	127	125
Rates per 100,000 population	0.49	0.63	0.43	0.39	0.46	0.45	0.56	0.40	1.01	0.66	0.72	0.73	1.97	1.95
of them with presence of drugs in the blood:
opioids	26	34	26	21	23	17	16	16	43	23	27	34	91	71
morphine (heroin)	21	29	17	14	10	10	9	10	24	10	16	20	18	5
methadone	8	12	11	12	8	11	7	4	22	15	15	11	34	22
codeine	3	1	3	2	4	6	5	7	10	2	3	3	4	5
tramadol	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	1	2	2	1	2	10	2
fentanyl	2	0	2	0	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	5	53	58
oxycodone	0	1	0	0	3	0	2	1	0	0	0	1	2	0
cocaine	3	6	6	6	1	7	8	8	11	9	9	6	19	26
amphetamine	4	8	3	4	3	11	11	7	25	11	7	9	25	45
methamphetamine	1	3	0	0	4	3	1	4	14	4	11	16	43	49
ecstacy (MDMA)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	5	4
ketamine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
cannabis	6	7	6	3	3	4	10	3	3	6	11	2	3	15
inhalants	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
synthetic cannabinoids	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3
synthetic cathinones	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
pregabalin	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Z-drugs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
benzodiazepines	4	12	4	6	7	10	10	6	5	4	3	2	22	23
alcohol	10	13	17	7	10	9	12	9	17	17	12	16	29	31
Age distribution
< 20	4	2	0	1	0	1	4	2	1	2	2	2	7	8
20-24	4	4	8	0	6	4	2	0	7	3	2	4	3	5
25-29	7	13	1	10	8	4	4	6	6	0	5	3	10	11
30-34	13	12	9	7	10	10	7	5	11	13	10	4	16	17
35-39	4	9	10	7	6	9	4	8	15	13	10	6	30	25
40-44	2	1	2	2	2	2	7	1	10	8	6	21	28	30
45-49	1	1	0	0	1	1	3	2	4	5	7	3	14	15
50-54	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	2	0	2	2	7	1
55-59	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	1	2	0	2	0	3	2
60-64	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
>= 65	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	1	5	1
No data	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	11	0	0	1	2	10
Mean age (total)	30.6	32.4	32.0	32.0	30.5	32.8	37.8	35.3	36.5	36.5	37.5	38.0	40.4	36,6

Drug-related deaths in Bulgaria over the period 2012 – 2025 (males)

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Number of drug-related deaths	30	39	27	24	29	28	30	25	65	43	38	40	110	105
Rates per 100,000 population	0.85	1.11	0.77	0.69	0.84	0.82	0.88	0.74	1.94	1.30	1.23	1.29	3.55	3.40
of them:
with presence of opioids in the blood	22	27	22	17	20	16	13	14	40	21	24	29	80	58
Age distribution
< 20	4	2	0	0	0	0	4	1	1	2	2	2	6	7
20-24	4	4	7	0	4	4	1	0	5	3	1	3	3	5
25-29	7	13	1	8	8	3	4	6	6	0	4	3	9	11
30-34	13	12	8	7	9	9	6	5	9	13	9	3	13	16
35-39	4	9	8	6	5	8	4	8	15	12	7	5	26	21
40-44	2	1	2	2	2	2	5	1	10	8	6	18	26	23
45-49	1	1	0	0	1	1	2	1	4	4	7	2	12	14
50-54	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	2	7	0
55-59	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	2	0	2	0	1	2
60-64	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
>= 65	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	3	1
No data	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	11	0	0	1	2	5
Mean age	31.3	33.2	32.0	32.7	30.9	33.3	35.3	34.0	37.3	36.2	37.5	38.0	39.0	36.2

Drug-related deaths in Bulgaria over the period 2012 – 2025 (females)

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Number of drug-related deaths	6	7	4	4	4	4	9	3	5	2	8	7	17	18
Rates per 100,000 population	0.16	0.19	0.11	0.11	0.11	0.11	0.25	0.08	0.14	0.06	0.24	0.21	0.51	0.54
of them:
with presence of opioids in the blood	4	7	4	4	3	1	3	3	3	2	3	5	11	13
Age distribution
< 20	2	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
20-24	0	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	1	1	0	0
25-29	2	4	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
30-34	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	2	0	1	1	3	1
35-39	0	1	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	3	1	4	4
40-44	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	2	7
45-49	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	1	2	1
50-54	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	1
55-59	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
60-64	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
>= 65	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	2	0
No data	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Mean age	27.5	28.0	32.5	27.5	27.3	29.0	46.0	44.7	28.3	41.5	37.9	38.0	41.9	39.7