Infographic. Clients in opioid agonist treatment

This resource is part of the European Drug Report 2023, the EMCDDA's annual overview of the drug situation in Europe.

 

Trends in the number of opioid agonist clients are based on 25 countries. Only countries with data for at least 10 of the 12 years are included in the trends graph. Missing values are interpolated from adjacent years. Data for age distribution are based on 15 countries. Data for gender are based on 14 countries. Data for treatment duration are based on 7 countries.

Source data

The data used to generate infographics and charts on this page may be found below.

List of tables

Table 1. Coverage of opioid agonist treatment in 2021 or the most recent year and 2011/12 (Percent)
Year Series Country Low Estimate High
2017 2021 or most recent Latvia 8 10 12
2020 2021 or most recent Romania 8 10 13
2016 2021 or most recent Lithuania 9 15 21
2021 2021 or most recent Cyprus 10 17 25
2014 2021 or most recent Poland 16 21 28
2021 2021 or most recent Slovakia 14 23 32
2016 2021 or most recent Denmark 16 27 39
2016 2021 or most recent Germany 48 49 49
2015 2021 or most recent Croatia 39 50 62
2021 2021 or most recent Austria 50 52 54
2019 2021 or most recent Ireland 49 53 54
2021 2021 or most recent Czechia 57 59 61
2018 2021 or most recent Portugal 42 64 98
2019 2021 or most recent Belgium   72  
2021 2021 or most recent Slovenia 69 75 80
2020 2021 or most recent France 78 80 82
2021 2021 or most recent Greece 56 85 100
2013 2021 or most recent Norway 56 86 100
2019 2021 or most recent Luxembourg   86  
2020 2021 or most recent Malta 77 89 95
2020 2021 or most recent Spain 65 90 100
2012 Previous estimate Latvia 4 5 7
2016 Previous estimate Romania 5 7 9
2007 Previous estimate Lithuania 7 7 7
2011 Previous estimate Cyprus 25 31 37
2009 Previous estimate Poland 10 13 19
2018 Previous estimate Slovakia 11 20 28
  Previous estimate        
  Previous estimate        
  Previous estimate        
2011 Previous estimate Austria 54 55 57
2011 Previous estimate Ireland 44 53 57
2011 Previous estimate Czechia 46 48 51
2012 Previous estimate Portugal 66 75 88
  Previous estimate        
  Previous estimate        
  Previous estimate        
2011 Previous estimate Greece 30 33 37
  Previous estimate        
  Previous estimate        
  Previous estimate        
2010 Previous estimate Spain 82 96 100

Back to list of tables  

Table 2a. Clients in opioid agonist treatment
Characteristic Number in treatment Data Unit
Number in treatment EU 511210 number
Number in treatment EU+2 523821 number
Age <15 0 %
Age 15-19 0 %
Age 20-24 2 %
Age 25-29 5 %
Age 30-34 11 %
Age 35-39 17 %
Age 40-44 20 %
Age 45-49 16 %
Age 50-54 15 %
Age 55-59 7 %
Age 60-64 5 %
Age >64 1 %
Gender Females 23 %
Gender Males 77 %
Medication Methadone 55.88 %
Medication Buprenorphine 34.57 %
Medication Other 6.73 %
Medication Slow-release oral morphine 2.56 %
Medication Diacetylmorphine 0.24 %
Medication Dihydrocodeine 0.02 %
Duration <12 10 %
Duration 12 to 24 11 %
Duration 25 to 60 27 %
Duration 61 to 120 21 %
Duration >120 30 %

Back to list of tables  

Back to list of tables  

Table 3. Number of European countries implementing opioid agonist treatment, up to 2022
Year Buprenorphine/naloxone combination Heroin assisted treatment (including pilots) High-dosage buprenorphine treatment Methadone maintenance treatment Opioid agonist treatment in prison Slow-release morphine
1967       1    
1968       2    
1969            
1970       3    
1971            
1972            
1973            
1974       4    
1975       5    
1976            
1977       6    
1978            
1979            
1980            
1981            
1982            
1983            
1984            
1985         1  
1986            
1987       8 2  
1988         3  
1989       9    
1990       11 4  
1991       12    
1992       15 6  
1993       16    
1994       17    
1995       20 9  
1996     1 22    
1997     2 23    
1998   1 3 26 10 1
1999     8   11  
2000     10   14  
2001     11 27 15  
2002     14      
2003   3 15      
2004 1   16   16  
2005     18     3
2006 4   19   19 5
2007 7   20      
2008 13 4     23  
2009 16          
2010         24  
2011   5        
2012 17       25  
2013            
2014         26  
2015            
2016            
2017            
2018            
2019 18          
2020            
2021            
2022 18 5 20 27 26 5

Originally published in

European Drug Report 2023: Trends and Developments

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