ILO links more than 840,000 deaths a year to psychosocial risks at work

The International Labour Organization published The psychosocial working environment: Global developments and pathways for action for World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2026. It estimates that psychosocial risks at work are linked to more than 840,000 deaths a year.

What happened

The report presents new estimates that work-related psychosocial risk factors are associated with more than 840,000 deaths each year, mainly through cardiovascular disease, mental disorders and suicide. It puts the annual loss at nearly 45 million disability-adjusted life years and the economic cost at about 1.37% of global GDP.

It examines five major risk factors: job strain, meaning high demands combined with low control; effort–reward imbalance; job insecurity; long working hours; and workplace bullying and harassment. It describes these risks as operating at three levels: the design of jobs, the way work is organised and managed, and workplace policies, procedures and employment arrangements.

The report reviews international, regional and national policy developments and sets out practical approaches to preventing and managing psychosocial risks at workplace level, covering job demands, role clarity, workload, autonomy, working-time arrangements and fair, transparent processes. It calls for psychosocial risk management to be built into occupational safety and health systems through social dialogue between governments, employers and workers.

Manal Azzi, the ILO’s Team Lead on OSH Policy and Systems, said psychosocial risks "are becoming one of the most significant challenges for occupational safety and health in the modern world of work."

Why it matters

The report places psychosocial risk within occupational safety and health, alongside physical hazards, rather than treating it only as a matter of individual resilience. For HR and wellbeing professionals, it points attention towards how work is designed and managed as well as towards support for individual employees.

The estimates are global. The report does not set new legal obligations for employers; those depend on each country’s occupational safety and health law.

Sources

• International Labour Organization840,000 deaths a year linked to psychosocial risks at work
• International Labour OrganizationThe psychosocial working environment: Global developments and pathways for action