In England, the Centre for Mental Health has predicted that up to 10 million people – almost a fifth of the population – will need mental health support as a direct consequence of Covid-19. Sadly, our work is needed now more than ever.

Below are a few key mental health statistics taken from the Mind and Mental Health Foundation website, to demonstrate how important our work is.

How common are mental health problems?

• 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England.
• 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem (like anxiety and depression) in any given week in England.

Specific diagnoses

In any given week in England:

• Mixed anxiety and depression: 8 in 100 people
• Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD): 6 in 100 people
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): 4 in 100 people
• Depression: 3 in 100 people
• Phobias: 2 in 100 people
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): 1 in 100 people
• Panic disorder: fewer than 1 in 100 people.

A person's diagnosis may change several times during their life. Some complex conditions are measured by how many people will be given this diagnosis over the course of their lifetime, or in any given year:

• Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD): 3 in 100 people (in their lifetime)
• Borderline personality disorder (BPD): 2 in 100 people (in their lifetime)
• Bipolar disorder: 2 in 100 people (in their lifetime)
• Psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia): fewer than 1 in 100 people (in any given year)

Anxiety

Anxiety is a type of fear usually associated with the thought of a threat or something going wrong in the future, but it can also arise from something happening right now.

Younger people are more likely to have some form of anxiety:

• In 2021, those aged 16 to 29 years were most likely to have some form of anxiety (28% likely)
• This decreased steadily through the age groups, and the least likely group was those aged 70 and over (5% likely) 

More women report experiencing high levels of anxiety than men:

• In 2022/23, an average of 37.1% of women and 29.9% of men reported high levels of anxiety 
• Compared to data from 2012 to 2015, this has increased significantly from 21.8% of women and 18.3% of men reporting high levels of anxiety 

There was an increase in people reporting high levels of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, but anxiety levels have begun to decrease since then:

• 19.8% reported high levels of anxiety during 2018/19
• This increased to 24.2% during 2020/21
• But anxiety levels decreased the following year, with 22.5% reporting high levels of anxiety during 2021/22 

Of those experiencing anxiety, more people report experiencing ‘low’ or ‘very low’ levels of anxiety than those reporting ‘medium’ or ‘high’ levels:

• From July to September 2022, 59.4% experienced ‘low’ or ‘very low’ levels
• Whereas 40.5% of people experienced ‘medium’ or ‘high’ levels of anxiety 

Depression

Depression is a common mental disorder that causes people to experience depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration.

• Depression is the predominant mental health problem worldwide, followed by anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
• In 2013, depression was the second leading cause of years lived with a disability worldwide, behind lower back pain. In 26 countries, depression was the primary driver of disability.
• In 2014, 19.7% of people in the UK aged 16 and over showed symptoms of anxiety or depression - a 1.5% increase from 2013. This percentage was higher among females (22.5%) than males (16.8%).

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder (formerly known as manic depression) is a mood disorder. Symptoms are extreme mood swings from high to low.

• Bipolar is the fourth most common mental health problem worldwide after depression, anxiety and schizophrenia.
• In 2013, there were almost 4 million cases of mood disorders, including bipolar disorder, in the UK.
• In 2014, younger people were more likely to have bipolar than older people - 3.4% of 16 to 24-year-olds screened positive, but only 0.4% of 65 to 74-year-olds screened positive.

Suicidal thoughts and self-harm

Over the course of someone’s lifetime;

• 1 in 5 people have suicidal thoughts.
• 1 in 14 people self-harm.
• 1 in 15 people attempt suicide.

Women are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and make suicide attempts than men, however, men are 3 times more likely to take their own life than women. In fact, suicide is now the biggest killer of men under 50.

• People reporting self-harm went up by 62% between the years 2000–2014.
• People reporting having had suicidal thoughts within the past year went up by 30% between the years 2000–2014.
• The number of people who self-harm or have suicidal thoughts is rising faster than the number of people experiencing mental health problems overall.

Mental Health and young people 

These statistics are taken from the Mental Health Foundation website

• 20% of adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any given year.
• 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24.
• 10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age

Download our statistics infographic

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