Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) –Data released this week by NM’s Department of Health showed a 2.6% rise in alcohol-related deaths from 2024 to 2025. NM has been one of the states with the highest alcohol-related death rates for years but the recent increase comes after three years of declines. Death rates per 100,000 residents dropped 21% from 2021 to 2024. In 2021, 2,189 people died due to alcohol compared with 1809 people in 2025. According to Rebecca Neudecker, section manager for the DOH’s Office of Alcohol Misuse Prevention, about two-thirds of alcohol related deaths fall into the chronic category and the other third are considered part of the acute category
