WHO reports more than a billion people living with mental health conditions as services lag
The World Health Organization released two reports, World mental health today and Mental Health Atlas 2024. They estimate that more than a billion people live with mental health conditions and find that services, spending and workforce have not kept pace.
What happened
World mental health today presents the latest estimates of how common mental health conditions are and what they cost. Mental Health Atlas 2024 reports on countries’ mental health policies, laws, financing, workforce and services.
WHO reports that more than one billion people are living with mental health conditions. Suicide claimed an estimated 727,000 lives in 2021. Depression and anxiety alone are estimated to cost the global economy about US$1 trillion a year.
Median government spending on mental health remains at 2% of total health budgets, unchanged since 2017. Globally there are about 13 mental health workers per 100,000 people.
Spending is highly unequal: WHO reports that high-income countries spend up to US$65 per person on mental health, compared with as little as US$0.04 in low-income countries.
The Atlas also records progress. Forty-five per cent of countries now have mental health laws in full compliance with international human rights standards, and 71% meet at least three of five WHO criteria for integrating mental health into primary care. More than 80% of countries now include mental health and psychosocial support in emergency responses, up from 39% in 2020.
WHO released both reports ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting on noncommunicable diseases and mental health, held on 25 September 2025.
Why it matters
The figures describe a gap between need and trained capacity that affects every part of the field, from psychologists and counsellors to school and workplace wellbeing staff.
The Atlas is WHO’s main record of how countries’ mental health systems change over time, so its figures give the starting point against which later commitments, including the 2025 UN political declaration on noncommunicable diseases and mental health, can be compared.
Sources
- World Health OrganizationOver a billion people living with mental health conditions: services require urgent scale-up
- World Health OrganizationWorld mental health today: latest data