Europe spends more on tackling mental health conditions that any other region in the world, but with rates of illness at high levels, it still needs to urgently invest more.
That’s one of the warnings from the World Health Organization in two reports released Tuesday — one on governments’ mental health policies and another on mental wellbeing.
Together, the reports, which collate rates of mental health conditions and policies from 2021 and 2024, respectively, point to countries playing catch-up as mental health disorders weigh down national health budgets and contribute significantly to disability.
Governments in WHO’s Europe region spent $51.76 per capita in 2024 on mental health, far more than any other region globally. The next-highest-spending region is the Americas, with $6.86 per capita. European countries also spend a higher proportion of their overall budget on mental wellbeing, with 4.5 percent compared to the global median figure of 2.1 percent.
The 2.1 percent figure is stuck at the same level as in 2017 and 2020, with no evidence of greater spending at any income level, WHO officials told reporters Monday. High-income countries in general greatly outspend lower- and middle income countries on mental health.
In all WHO regions, the estimated prevalence of mental disorders has increased since 2001, with the greatest increases taking place in WHO’s Americas region (rising from 15.3 percent to 17.1 percent in 2021) and European region (from 14 percent to 15.4 percent).
Globally, there were more than 1 billion people living with a mental health disorder, according to 2021 data. The prevalence of mental health disorders is generally evenly distributed by region, although Europe has lower rates of anxiety disorders than elsewhere in the world, with 3.7 percent of the population compared with 4.4 percent globally.
Europe and Southeast Asia both have higher rates of intellectual development disorders than the global rate of 1.2 percent, with 1.8 and 2.7 percent.
Underspending on mental health is costing people access to the services they need, the WHO told reporters Monday. Just 9 percent of people with depression, and 40 percent of people with psychosis, get treatment. “Those are the numbers to be worried about,” said Dévora Kestel, a director at the WHO’s department for non-communicable diseases and mental health.
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