To mark World Mental Health Day today, Eurostat is highlighting the statistics which indicate that in 2014, 7 % of the European Union (EU) population reported having chronic depression.
Ireland had the highest share of its population reporting chronic depression (12 %) and double-digit shares were also recorded in Portugal, Germany and Finland. The proportion of people reporting depression was less than 4 % in the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania.
Share of the population reporting that they had chronic depression, by sex, 2014
The proportion of people who had depressive disorders was higher for women than for men in each of the EU Member States. The share of women reporting chronic depression peaked in Portugal at 17 %, which contributed towards Portugal recording the largest gender gap (as the share of Portuguese women reporting chronic depression was 11 percentage points higher than the corresponding share for Portuguese men). Gaps of at least 5 percentage points were also recorded in Spain, Latvia and Sweden.
The source data are here.
The figures on chronic depression are from the second wave of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), which was conducted between 2013 and 2015 and covered people aged 15 and over. The survey included questions on self-assessment of an individual’s health and data on chronic diseases which occurred during the previous 12 months. The next wave of the survey will be conducted in 2019.
For more information on the statistics available on mental and behavioural disorders, please see this Statistics Explained article.
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