Data mining Wales: The annual profile for substance misuse 2024 to 2025

Executive summary

Population level trends

• More than twice as many individuals were admitted to hospital for alcohol-specific conditions than for illicit drug use in 2024/25, though both have continued to decrease in the previous year. The total number of admissions for alcohol-specific conditions decreased by 8.0 per cent and admissions related to illicit drug use decreased by 5.4 per cent in the last year
• Opioids remain the substance group associated with the highest number and rate per 100,000 population of hospital admissions for illicit drugs, though this has decreased consistently over the past several years
• Over the last five years, psychiatric admissions have decreased by 31.9 per cent for alcohol-specific conditions and by 42.3 per cent for conditions related to illicit drugs
• The proportion of all patients admitted for alcohol-specific conditions living in the most deprived areas was 2.9 times higher than those from the least deprived areas. In relation to illicit drug use, the proportion was 5.8 times higher
• The number of unique individuals assessed within specialist substance misuse services in Wales decreased by 2.5 per cent from the previous year and is now 16.7 per cent lower than 2020/21. Of all assessments, 46.0 per cent were primary alcohol clients, 44.2 per cent were primary drug clients, and the remaining 9.6 per cent did not have a substance recorded
• There were 538 alcohol-specific death registrations in 2024, a decrease of 4.3 per cent, following the highest number on record in 2023. Deaths from drug misuse registered in 2024 rose substantially to 288 deaths, an increase of 13.8 per cent from the previous year and the highest number of drug misuse deaths on record. The number of drug misuse deaths has increased more rapidly than other drug poisoning deaths in recent years

Children and young people (under 25 years)

• The number of school exclusions relating to drugs or alcohol remained high in the 2023/24 academic year. There was a total of 936 of these school exclusions amongst school aged children, stable from the previous academic year
• There were 341 admissions involving young people aged under 25 with an alcohol specific condition in 2024/25, an increase of 13.0 per cent compared with 2023/24. There was a decrease of 10.3 per cent in admissions for illicit drugs (611 admissions) amongst this age cohort
• Cannabis was the most commonly reported substance for assessments amongst this age group (35.1 per cent of assessments), followed by alcohol (28.0 per cent). The number of assessments for cocaine and crack cocaine has increased by 34.1 per cent in the past five years
• Among people who inject drugs and regularly access Needle and Syringe Programmes (NSPs) in Wales in this age group, most reported IPED use (89.3 per cent)

Adults aged 25-49 years

• Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions and for illicit drug poisonings have decreased by 9.5 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively on the previous year
• Opioids continued to account for more hospital admissions than any other illicit substance group, representing 31.2 percent of admissions for illicit drugs in this age group
• IPEDs were the most frequently reported substance group (64.0 per cent) among individuals regularly accessing NSPs, followed by opioids (32.6 per cent)
• In those accessing substance misuse treatment services, the most frequently reported problematic substance was alcohol (42.3 per cent) followed by opioids (20.5 per cent). The number of assessments for cocaine and crack cocaine continue to increase and have risen by 67.8 per cent in the past five years
• Drug misuse deaths were highest in the 40-49 age category, accounting for 33.7 per cent of all drug misuse deaths (n=97) registered in 2024

Older adults, aged 50 years and above

• Individuals aged 50 and over accounted for 67.4 per cent of all those admitted to hospital for alcohol-specific conditions, and 30.0 per cent of all those admitted to hospital following illicit drug use in 2025/25. These proportions have remained relatively stable from recent years
• Within specialist substance misuse services, alcohol accounted for 71.6 per cent of assessments and opioids for 12.7 per cent. Assessments for alcohol and opioids have slightly declined in recent years while assessments for cocaine and crack cocaine have more than doubled in this age cohort in the last five years, though levels remain lower than other age groups
• Individuals regularly accessing NSPs in this age cohort most commonly reported opioid use (49.1 per cent) followed by IPEDs (45.0 per cent)
• This age cohort made up the majority (77.1 per cent) of alcohol specific deaths in 2024, particularly males aged 50-69