The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised concern as more than one billion people globally are now living with mental health conditions, warning that services require urgent scale-up.
In a report released on Tuesday, WHO noted that mental health challenges are affecting individuals, families, and entire nations, with anxiety and depression among the leading disorders.
The agency stressed that mental health conditions remain the second leading cause of long-term disability, driving up healthcare costs for families and governments while costing the global economy an estimated $1 trillion annually in lost productivity.
The findings are contained in two new publications — World Mental Health Today and the Mental Health Atlas 2024. While both reports highlight progress since 2020, they warn that the world remains far off track in addressing the crisis. The reports will also inform discussions at a UN high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases and mental health, scheduled for later in September in New York.
“Transforming mental health services is one of the most pressing public health challenges,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus. Investing in mental health means investing in people, communities, and economies — an investment no country can afford to neglect. Every leader has a responsibility to act urgently and ensure mental health care is treated not as a privilege, but as a basic right.”
Key concerns highlighted in the report
- Women are disproportionately affected, with anxiety and depression most common across both sexes.
- Suicide claimed an estimated 727,000 lives in 2021 and remains a leading cause of death among young people.
- At the current pace, the world will miss the UN target of reducing suicide deaths by one-third by 2030, achieving only a 12 per cent reduction.
- Government spending on mental health remains low, with a median of just 2% of health budgets, unchanged since 2017.
- While high-income countries spend up to $65 per person, low-income countries spend as little as $0.04.
- The global mental health workforce is critically thin, with only 13 workers for every 100,000 people.
WHO also flagged that fewer than one in 10 countries have fully transitioned to community-based care, with most still reliant on psychiatric hospitals. Alarmingly, nearly half of inpatient admissions are involuntary, and more than one in five patients remain hospitalised for over a year.
Signs of progress
Despite the challenges, the reports note some encouraging developments:
- More countries are integrating mental health into primary healthcare systems.
- Early intervention programmes in schools and communities are expanding.
- Over 80% of countries now include mental health support in emergency response, compared to under 40% in 2020.
- Telehealth services for mental health are growing, though access remains uneven.
Call to action
WHO is urging governments to increase investment and accelerate reforms, stressing that current efforts are not enough to meet global targets.
The UN agency reaffirmed that mental health is a fundamental human right and warned that without urgent action, millions will continue to suffer without support while societies face mounting social and economic costs.
