More Than 1 Million Children Lost Parent to Overdose or Gun Violence in Past 20 Years

More than one million U.S. children lost a parent to an overdose or gun violence in the past two decades, according to a new study.

Almost 100,000 children lost parents to an overdose or gun violence in 2020 alone—nearly three times more than in 1999, CNN reports. Overdose and gun violence accounted for 23% of all parental loss in 2020, almost double the share in 1999. Because direct data on the number of children who lost a parent to overdose or gun violence is not available, the researchers estimated these figures by analyzing federal mortality data, fertility data and population demographics.

They found the average age of people who died from either of these two causes is about 42, when people are likely to have young or teenage children. Overdose deaths are most common and increasing most quickly among people in their mid-30s and 40s.

The researchers found an estimated 759,000 youth experienced parental death due to overdose and 434,000 youth experienced parental death due to firearms from 1999 to 2020, accounting for 17% of all parental deaths.