The World Drug Report 2026 presents an overview of the current trends in global drug markets and includes the latest information on drug use, production, and trafficking. Find some headline findings below and select a region to explore the key developments relevant to that area.
“We have seen an unprecedented spike in new types of drugs on the market, and worryingly, some are more potent or dangerous than before.”
Monica Juma
Executive Director of UNODC
Global overview
Only one in 12 people with drug use disorders are in treatment.
Just one in 23 women with drug use disorders are in treatment compared with one in nine men.
Drug traffickers continue to innovate, raising the number of new psychoactive substances on the global market to 755 in 2024, out of which 118 were identified for the first time.
An estimated 5.9 million people worldwide were in formal contact with the criminal justice system for criminal drug offences in 2024 – approximately two thirds of them for drug use or possession.
An estimated 3.7 million people were prosecuted and around 2.2 million convicted for criminal drug offences that same year.
