In 2021, over a billion people were affected by mental health conditions: WHO

More than a billion people around the world — around one in every seven — were living with mental health conditions in 2021, with anxiety and depressive disorders accounting for over two-thirds of all cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

The disorders exact immense human and economic tolls, the United Nations’ health agency added.

Suicide is a major cause of death among youths, accounting for over one in 100 deaths across the globe and about 20 attempts made for each death, the WHO said in reports titled ‘World Mental Health Today’ and ‘Mental Health Atlas 2024’.

Authors of the reports also said that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — affecting about 1 in 200 and 1 in 150 adults, respectively — are a primary concern.

“Schizophrenia in its acute state is modelled to be the most impairing of all health conditions” and is the “costliest psychological disorder per person to society,” they wrote. The condition is marked by hallucinations and a disorganised way of thinking.

The findings are based on the analysis of databases ‘Global Health Estimates 2021’ — managed by the WHO — and ‘Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study 2021’, which is co-ordinated by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The UN health agency said the estimates are the latest on the prevalence and burden of psychological disorders and also reveal country-wise information on gaps in mental health care — the first such estimates since the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in 2020.

The reports highlight that a sustained investment in mental health and care is urgently needed, with a scale-up in services to protect and promote people’s psychological health, it said.

“Transforming mental health services is one of the most pressing public health challenges,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“Investing in mental health means investing in people, communities, and economies — an investment no country can afford to neglect. Every government and every leader has a responsibility to act with urgency and to ensure that it is treated not as a privilege, but as a basic right for all,” he said.

The authors also drew attention to the “staggering” and “enormous” economic impacts of mental health disorders, with losses in productivity and indirect costs to society far outstripping health care costs.

Also Read: World Mental Health Day 2024: Simple steps to enhance your mental well-being

Depression and anxiety, whilst being less costly per person, collectively contribute majorly to overall national costs because of a wider, more common prevalence — yearly losses in the world’s productivity linked to the conditions are estimated at USD one trillion, the team found.

Since 2020, countries have made significant strides in strengthening mental health policies and planning. However, the progress has not translated into a legal reform, the authors said.

Typically, governments around the world were found to spend only two per cent of total health budgets on mental health — “unchanged since 2017”. Disparities in expenditure ranged from USD 65 per person in high-income countries to USD 0.04 in low-income countries.

Globally, 13 mental health workers typically cater to one lakh people, with “extreme shortages in low- and middle-income countries,” the authors said.