Opioid drugs (64) People who inject opioid drugs (4)

5 May, 2026

Hi, Thank you Neil

Your estimate is quite close, though

The absolute number of PWID in US are 3.7 million (2018); in Russia 1.3 million (2016) and in China 1.9 million (2012)

In World Drug Report 2020, we had described the opioid crisis in the US, and this graph on opioid overdose deaths captures the development of the opioid over the past 25 years or so.

Kamran Niaz

Epidemiologist, UNODC

Author: 
kamran.niaz@un.org