Topic 3 Statistics on Youth Mental Health
More than half of adult mental-health troubles are evident before their 14th year (Jones, Horizon, 2023)
According to UNICEF (2021), young people are 30 to 80% more likely to experience anxiety, depression and loneliness than adults. Nine million adolescents (aged 10-19) experience problems with their mental health, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people in Europe.
Pre Covid-19 statistics confirm that one in five adolescents globally were at risk of a mental health issue every year. An IHME study carried out in 2019 in Europe on the prevalence of mental health illnesses in children aged between 10-19, found that Spain was the highest at 20.8% and Poland was the lowest at 10.8%.The study focussed on depression, anxiety, bipolar, eating, autism spectrum, conduct, schizophrenia, idiopathic intellectual disability, attention deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) and a group of personality disorders.)
| Country | Girls and boys aged 10-19 | Girls aged 10-19 | Boys aged 10-19 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
% |
Number |
% |
Number |
% |
Number |
|
Slovenia |
11.3% |
21,665 |
10.7% |
9,975 |
11.8% |
11,689 |
|
Ireland |
19.4% |
128,782 |
19.9% |
64,661 |
18.9% |
64,120 |
|
Spain |
20.8% |
982,291 |
21.4% |
489,830 |
20.4% |
492,461 |
|
Cyprus |
17.8% |
23,697 |
18.6% |
11,918 |
17.1% |
62,645 |
|
Greece |
18% |
187,808 |
18.7% |
95,394 |
17.45 |
92,414 |
Furthermore, the study found that the percentage of girls ages 10-19 suffering from stress and anxiety related disorders, was double that of boys, (70.1% girls and 39.6% boys.
