One in Eight People has Mental Disorder: World Health Organisation

June 18, 2022

About one in eight people in the world live with a mental disorder as stated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in a landmark report released calling for urgent action on transforming mental healthcare.
The lack of awareness and access to care remain the most significant obstacles to mental health care.
Even before the pandemic, in 2019, the number of people living with a mental disorder was nearly a billion, including 14 per cent of the world’s adolescents, a number that has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years.
The WHO report revealed that on average, countries dedicate less than 2 per cent of their healthcare budgets to mental health. As a result, just a small fraction of people in need get access to effective, affordable and quality mental health care.
The report also called to end stigma, discrimination and human rights violations against people with mental health conditions, with 20 countries still criminalising attempted suicide.