1110 deaths from drug addiction in the last 5 years...More than 80% of the causes of death are prescription drugs and medical drugs

Sep 22, 2025

1110 deaths from drug addiction in the last 5 years...More than 80% of the causes of death are prescription drugs and medical drugs
Data = National Forensic Service, Rep. Mi-hwa Seo's office reprocessing



1110 deaths from drug addiction in the last 5 years...More than 80% of the causes of death are prescription drugs and medical drugs
Data = National Forensic Service, Rep. Mi-hwa Seo's office reprocessing
Over the past five years, the number of deaths from drug addiction has exceeded 1,110, of which specialty drugs and medical drugs account for more than 80%, raising concerns about misuse of daily prescription drugs.

According to data submitted by Rep. Seo Mi-hwa (Democratic Party of Korea), a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, from the National Forensic Service, a total of 1110 people died of acute drug poisoning from 2020 to 2024.

In terms of gender, 596 (53.7%) were female and 514 (46.3%) were male.




By age group, ▲ those in their 40s and 50s are the most with 243 people (21.9%). It was followed by 191 people in their ▲30s (17.2%), 150 people in their ▲60s (13.5%), 145 people in their ▲20s (13.1%), ▲70s 80s (7.2%), ▲80s 38 people (3.4%), ▲10s 15 people (1.4%), ▲90s 4 people (0.4%), and ▲0 people (0.1%).

By drug type, ▲ 1,399 cases (50.5%), ▲ 925 cases (33.4%), ▲ 256 cases (9.2%), ▲ 188 cases (6.8%) of illegal drugs, and by drug type, ▲ 740 cases of hypnosis sedatives (28.7%), ▲ 614 cases of antidepressants (23.8%), 349 cases of antipsychotics (13.5%), ▲ 236 cases of anti-anxiety drugs (9.1%), ▲ 129 cases of non-narcotic analgesics (5.0%).

Representative Seo Mi-hwa said, "Drug addiction deaths are not a problem experienced by a specific group, but can occur even when drugs encountered in daily life are abusedThe health and medical authorities should come up with comprehensive measures to protect the health of the people, such as strengthening the management of prescription and administration of drugs and education to the public on drug abuse," he stressed.






This article was translated by Naver AI translator.