AUGUSTA — Calling it a “shocking increase,” the Maine Office of the Attorney General released figures Friday that showed 208 people died in Maine last year from drug overdoses, up 18 percent over 2013.

It made 2014 the deadliest year on record for drug deaths.

“Not one county, not one community is untouched by this scourge,” Attorney General Janet Mills said in a news release. “Profit-seeking dealers from out of state are setting up shop along the I-95 corridor and dealing in every corner of the state. No one is immune from these deaths. The age of those who died range from 18 to 88, and the average age is 43 years old.”

The analysis, done by Dr. Marcella Sorg of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine and the Maine Office of Chief Medical Examiner, found heroin was responsible for 57 deaths last year and fentanyl, for 43. Cocaine, morphine, alcohol, tranquilizers, methadone and oxycodone also were involved.

“Maine saw an increase in drug overdose deaths beginning in 2001-02 and it remained high, largely as a result of pharmaceutical opioid-related deaths,” Sorg said in a news release. “What is remarkable about the numbers in 2014 is a new increase in heroin and fentanyl deaths, driving the number of total deaths to an unprecedented level for Maine.”

Fentanyl is an opioid 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin, frequently sold on the streets as white powder and passed off as heroin, according to the AG’s Office. It was traced to nine deaths in 2013.

“These tragic numbers point to the need for a comprehensive, three-pronged approach to substance abuse: education, interdiction and treatment,” Mills said. “No single focus will solve the problem.”