India Is Most Depressed Country In The World – WHO

Depression also termed as a major depressive disorder is a very severe medical illness that majorly influences the way you feel, thinks & acts. Depression tends to bring a feeling of sadness & lack of interest in almost every activity inducing diverse physical & emotional dilemmas. Depression hampers the person’s capability to function at the workplace as well as home. Depression if not treated can be fatal.

As per the survey over 300 million people worldwide – equal to 4.4% of the world population – are anticipated to suffer from depression. WHO ranks depression as the single largest contributor to global disability & also to the suicide deaths, which estimate nearby to 800 000 per year.

List of countries in depression

India

India is home to an estimated 57 million people (18% of the global estimate) affected by depression. With India witnessing significant changes (including globalization, urbanization, migration, and modernization) that are coupled with a rapid sociodemographic transition, depression is likely to increase in the coming years.

Research published in WHO asserts that approx 6.5 percent of the Indians experiences any sort of severe mental ailment. In spite of adequate remedies, an intense deficiency of psychologists, psychiatrists, and doctors is seen in the country. The average suicide rate reported is 10.9 for every lakh people in the country.

The average suicide rate reported is 10.9 for every lakh people in the country.

Some shocking stats regarding depression in India

1. 56,675,969 people suffer from depression in India as of 2015. That’s 4.5% of India’s population. (source Who)
2. 42.5% of corporate employees in India suffer from depression (source Assocham)
3. The government estimates that about 1 in 5 people in the country need counseling either psychological or psychiatric
4. 3 of every 100 residents in urban area are estimated to suffer from depression
5. The rate of anxiety & depression among corporate employee has increased by 45-50% between 2008 & 2015 (source Assocham)
6. 36% of Indians are likely to suffer from major depression at some points in their lives (source Who)
7. Nearly 38.5 % of corporate employees sleep less than 6 hrs a day causing diseases like depression, hypertension, sugar, etc.
8. Nearly half of those with severe mental diseases aren’t treated
9. In all 135445 people committed suicide in 2012 in India. An average of 371 suicides daily (the national crime records bureau)
10. Total number of people living with depression increased by 18.4% between 2005 and 2015(source Who)
11. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the 18-29 age group
12. Most suicides in India are by the people aged below 44 yrs
13. According to the 2015-16 National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) survey, every sixth person in India needs mental health help of some sort. Of all the age groups, it is the adolescents who need the most help with mental health issues.
14. According to the data from 2014, the ratio of mental health workers to the population is just 1 in 1,00,000 people. Overall, India has just about 5,000 psychiatrists and less than 2,000 clinical psychologists.

China

According to WHO estimation china ranks second in the list of most depressed countries. China has a huge number of people suffering from anxiety & depression. According to the estimation, 91.8 percent of all depressed Chinese people will refrain from seeking medical guidance. Although China ranks after India in the list, the situation is still no different. China seems to be ignorant about the mental health of its people & spends only 2.35% of their budget on the mental health of its population.

United States

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness about one in five adults in the U.S. experiences some form of mental illness each year. Among them, only 41% of those affected endured mental health care or assistance. U.S. face a shortage of medical professionals to treat depression or mental health-related disorders. Less awareness about the disorder makes people believe that they will recover eventually without spending money on the treatment.

Brazil

According to NCBI survey, 9.7% of the Brazil adults citizens show depression while 3.9% has major depression. Major social circumstances & disturbances in Brazil such as violence, migration & lack of proper shelter apparently add to a vast figure of people suffering from diverse sorts of mental disorders.

Indonesia

As per the research 9 million Indonesians, i.e approx 3.7 % of the population suffer from depression while 8 million suffer from anxiety. This may somewhat be due to the reality that in Indonesia, people tend to be hesitant to ask for medical guidance because of the concern of being stigmatized.

Russia

As per WHO, 5.5 percent of its population has depression. Roughly 6.7 million people were informed to possess mental health issues including depressions & anxiety ailments in Russia. The teenage suicide rate is recorded as three times higher than that of the world average. Depression stats of Russia explicitly depicts the severity of mental health issues in the country.

Pakistan

As per the 2012 report, Pakistan has only 750 qualified mental health professionals. Owing to the high social stigma in the country many mental disorders normally go unreported. The exact number of people suffering from depression in the country can’t be predicted as considerably fewer people report about mental health or take professional guidance.