Opioid prescriptions number U.S. 2006-2020

In 2012, there were over 255 million prescriptions filled for opioids among patients in the United States. By the year 2020, this number had dropped to just below 143 million prescriptions. In response to the ongoing opioid epidemic, prescriptions of opioids have decreased in recent years. This statistic depicts the annual number of opioid prescriptions in the U.S. from 2006 to 2020.

Number of annual opioid prescriptions in the U.S. from 2006 to 2020

Characteristic	Number of prescriptions
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Release date

November 2021

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Region

North America, United States

Survey time period

2006 to 2020

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

"Source for all dispensing data: IQVIA Xponent 2006–2020. IQVIA Xponent is based on a sample of approximately 50,400 retail (non-hospital) pharmacies, which dispense nearly 92% of all retail prescriptions in the United States. For this database, a prescription is a new or refill prescription dispensed at a retail pharmacy in the sample and paid for by commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, cash or its equivalent, and other third-party coverage. This database does not include mail order prescriptions."

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