Not all countries have data on how common mental illnesses are in the population. In fact, for many mental illnesses, only very few countries have this data.
This means global estimates of mental illnesses have wide uncertainties, and many people don’t get the help they need.
This chart shows, for each mental illness, the number of countries that had data in any year since 1980 on the prevalence of that mental illness in the general population.
This is from the IHME’s Global Burden of Disease study, a large global dataset presenting global estimates for various health conditions.
As you can see, data on conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, cannabis use disorder, and major depressive disorder come from a significant number of countries.
But data on others — such as bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorders, and anorexia nervosa — came from far fewer countries.
With this large knowledge gap, the world is limited in making progress against many mental illnesses.
