An estimated 1.17 billion people were living with a mental disorder in 2023. That is more than one in seven people on earth, and close to double the 1990 count, a rise of about 96 percent.
The numbers come from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, published in The Lancet. Researchers pulled data from 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2023 and looked at 12 mental disorders, among them anxiety, major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anorexia nervosa, autism and ADHD.
Number one, by years lived with disability
Part of the jump is simple population growth. But even after adjusting for growth and ageing, rates of mental disorders rose 24 percent over the three decades. The illnesses are becoming more common, not merely better recorded.
The study counted burden two ways. By disability-adjusted life years, a measure of healthy years lost, mental disorders cost an estimated 171 million years in 2023 and made up 6.1 percent of global disease burden. They moved from 12th place in 1990 to 5th.
By years lived with disability, they now sit first of all disease groups, explaining more than 17 percent of disability worldwide. Anxiety disorders contributed the most, with major depression close behind. Schizophrenia also ranked high.
Who carries it
Women show higher rates than men. Among age groups, teenagers from 15 to 19 carry the heaviest burden of all. For families watching a teenager withdraw or struggle, the practical step is a conversation with a doctor, and the findings suggest earlier help is worth seeking.
Africa’s results were consistent: all 54 African nations had a higher burden in 2023 than in 1990.
What the figures leave out
The authors acknowledge limits. Data from low- and middle-income countries was weaker than from wealthy ones, so estimates there lean more on modelling, and the true figures could be higher or lower. Conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders were not fully included. And the disability weights, which gauge how much each disorder reduces daily function, were largely built from Western data.
