We don’t talk about it as much as we talk about other diseases, but you’ll be shocked to know that 300 million people worldwide are suffering from depression. Depression and bad mental health have been ignored as a serious issue since ages. But, do you know, depression can also lead to death if it gets worst?
When it comes to countries, India is the most depressed country in the world, according to the World Health Organisation, followed by China and the USA. India, China and the US are the most affected countries by anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to WHO.
Here’s a list of countries with the greatest burden of mental and behavioural disorders, in terms of most years of life lost due to disability or death adjusted for population size, according to WHO.
1. India
A study reported in WHO, conducted for the NCMH (National Care Of Medical Health), states that at least 6.5 per cent of the Indian population suffers from some form of the serious mental disorder, with no discernible rural-urban differences. Though there are effective measures and treatments, there is an extreme shortage of mental health workers like psychologists, psychiatrists, and doctors. As reported latest in 2014, it was as low as ”one in 100,000 people”.
The average suicide rate in India is 10.9 for every lakh people and the majority of people who commit suicide are below 44 years of age.
2. China
The WHO estimates that 91.8 per cent of all Chinese people with a mental disorder such as depression will never seek help for their condition. China is another large country with a huge number of depression and anxiety patients. The situation is quite similar to India’s. The country only spends 2.35 per cent of their budget on mental health.
3. United States
About one in five adults in the U.S. experiences some form of mental illness each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, but only 41 per cent of those affected received mental health care or services in the past year. There is again a shortage of medical professionals. According to most people, they’re just expected to get over it without spending a dime on treatment.
4. Brazil
Brazil has the most number of depressed individuals, in Latin America. Some important social factors especially present in this country such as violence, migration and homelessness probably contribute to a large number of people suffering from different forms of depressive and anxiety disorders.
5. Indonesia
In Indonesia, approximately 3.7 per cent of the population, or nine million people, suffer from depression. When those numbers are expanded to include anxiety, they increase to 6 per cent of the population over the age of 15.
6. Russia
According to the World Health Organisation, 5.5 per cent of its population has depression. As reported in 2012, the country’s rate of teenage suicide was three times higher than the world average, which clearly depicts the serious issue of low mental health in Russia.
7. Pakistan
You’ll be shocked to know that Pakistan has only 750 trained psychiatrists, as reported in 2012. The cases of mental illness usually go unreported due to high social stigma in the country, thus the exact number of patients suffering from depression can’t be revealed.
