Over 100 cr people live with mental health disorder, 53% are women: WHO

New Delhi: More than 1 crore people globally live with a mental health disorder, and women account for over 53 per cent, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday.

The WHO reports World Mental Health Today and Mental Health Atlas 2024 stated that conditions such as anxiety and depression inflict immense human and economic tolls and called for greater investment and action to scale up services to protect and promote people’s mental health.

“Transforming mental health services is one of the most pressing public health challenges,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

"Investing in mental health means investing in people, communities, and economies -- an investment no country can afford to neglect. Every government and every leader has a responsibility to act with urgency and to ensure that mental health care is treated not as a privilege, but as a basic right for all,” he added.

The reports showed that anxiety and depressive disorders are the most common types of mental health disorders among both men and women. However, women are disproportionately impacted overall.

Overall, more females (581.5 million) than males (513.9 million) live with a mental disorder.

“Mental disorders were found common among pregnant women and women in the year after birth, often with severe impacts for both mothers and babies. Worldwide, more than 10 per cent of pregnant women and women in the year after birth experience depression. In low- and medium-income countries (LMICs), this figure is estimated to be substantially higher,” the reports said.