Deaths attributed to poisoning refer to cases where medication or drugs, either alone or in combination with other substances, contribute to a person's death.
These cases totalled 641 last year, a decrease from 782 cases in 2023, according to the National Board of Forensic Medicine's preliminary compilation.
Carl Söderberg, chief physician at the National Board of Forensic Medicine, emphasizes that the figures are preliminary, but the decrease follows a pattern.
"We still see a decrease in 2024 compared to earlier years. Thus, the trend of fewer poisoning deaths since 2022," he says in a press release.
The deaths linked to heroin are among the cases that have decreased most sharply in recent years. From 111 cases in 2019 to 40 cases in 2024.
The substance that contributed to the most deaths last year was the pain-relieving medication Oxikodon, which was linked to 90 cases.
Number of deaths linked to poisoning with medication and/or drugs per year.
2018 – 831 cases
837 cases
2020 – 768 cases
2021 – 723 cases
2022 – 815 cases
2023 – 782 cases
2024 – 641 cases (preliminary figure)
Source: National Board of Forensic Medicine.
