A study co-led by the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) concluded that 6.4% of the European population suffers from depression after analyzing the responses of 258,888 people from 27 different countries.
The data, collected in the European Health Survey, showed important differences in the prevalence of this disorder in different sectors of the population:
- The prevalence reaches 7.7% in women while it’s down to 4.9% in men.
- Countries with greater economic development, such as Iceland (10.3% of its population), Luxembourg (9.7%) or Germany (9.2%) have depression rates up to four times higher than countries with less economic development, such as the Czech Republic (2.6%), Slovakia (2.6%) or Lithuania (3%).
- Western European countries have higher depression rates than Eastern European countries.
“This data establishes depression as a very frequent problem and having this information helps us estimate possible care needs”
Jordi Alonso, IMIM, co-author of the study.
The study, which presents one of the largest samples studied to date, will allow to monitor the evolution of the prevalence of this disorder and, among others, to verify the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of the population.
Arias-de la Torre J, Vilagut G, Ronaldson A, Serrano-Blanco A, Martín V, Peters M, Valderas JM, Dregan A, Alonso J. Prevalence and variability of current depressive disorder in 27 European countries: a population-based study. Lancet Public Health. 2021 May 4:S2468-2667(21)00047-5.
