Mental Health
Mental health refers to our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It is more than just happiness. It reflects how we think and feel, manage stress, relate to others, and make decisions. Mental health is essential for human thriving and has rightfully received much more attention in recent years.
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Depression and AnxietyNational
Trend% of countries the US outperformsIntl. Rank
Trend11%Specific Measure:
Our measure of anxiety is the percentage of adults who report being nervous “all of the time” or “most of the time” over the past month.
Our depression measure is the percentage of adults who report that they have been clinically diagnosed with depression.
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Fatal OverdosesNational
Trend% of countries the US outperformsIntl. Rank
Trend0%Specific Measure:
Deaths per 100,000 population from drug overdoses.
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Suicide RateNational
Trend% of countries the US outperformsIntl. Rank
Trend16%Specific Measure:
Suicide rate per 100,000 people.
Measures in green indicate an improving national trend or that we are outperforming at least 80% of countries.
Measures in red indicate a declining national trend or that we are outperforming less than 50% of countries.
Measures in yellow indicate stable trends or that we are outperforming 50-79% of countries.
Summary of Results
The United States is near the bottom of higher-income countries on every mental health measure we examined: depression and anxiety, fatal overdoses, and suicide. We are also getting steadily worse on these measures over time, overall and relative to other countries. These negative trends do not just reflect increased reporting of mental health disorders. They point to an actual decline in our well-being. America is doing worse in mental health than any other topic in this report.
Related Topics
The patterns here are consistent with other measures of how people feel about their lives. The most similar measure is youth depression (see the Children and Families section), which is also worsening. We also see declines in current life satisfaction and increased social isolation (see the Life Satisfaction section). Declines in mental health are also associated with declining trust in other people and institutions (see the Social Capital and Trust sections).
Other Measures Considered
The board also considered, but did not include, other measures, including substance abuse and time spent alone. The public supported substance abuse but not time spent alone.