Depression is one of the most common health conditions on the planet. The World Health Organization estimates that about 332 million people worldwide were living with depression in 2021 — roughly 4% of the global population, and around 5.7% of adults (WHO, 2025). It is not evenly shared: depression is about 1.5 times more common in women than in men, affecting an estimated 6.9% of adult women versus 4.6% of adult men (WHO, 2025).
That global total, however, hides enormous variation between countries. Age-standardized prevalence estimates range from under 2% in the lowest-rate nation to nearly 8% in the highest — a fourfold gap. Some of that spread reflects real differences in mental health, but a large share reflects something more mundane: how thoroughly each country surveys its population, and how consistently depression is recognized and recorded.
This article ranks countries by estimated depression prevalence, compares income groups, and explains why these rankings should be read as careful estimates rather than exact case counts. For the U.S. foundation behind these comparisons, see our depression data hub and our breakdown of how many people have depression in the United States and worldwide.
The Global Baseline: About 332 Million People
The headline figure comes from the WHO’s depression fact sheet, which draws on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study: approximately 332 million people were living with depression in 2021, or about 4% of the world (WHO, 2025). Broken down by sex, depression affected an estimated 6.9% of women and 4.6% of men — the roughly 1.5-to-1 female-to-male ratio that appears in nearly every country with reliable data.
A separate lens comes from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), whose newer GBD 2023 estimates are published by Our World in Data. On an age-standardized basis — a method that adjusts for the fact that some countries have older or younger populations than others — the world’s depression prevalence was about 3.81% in 2023 (IHME via Our World in Data, 2023). Age-standardization is what makes the country-by-country comparisons below fair, so every ranking in this article uses it.
A Note on the Data: These Are Estimates
Before the rankings, one caveat matters more than any single number. Country-level prevalence figures from the GBD are modeled estimates, not head counts. IHME builds them by pooling every available survey, registry, and study, then filling gaps with statistical modeling. Where a country runs frequent, well-funded surveys, its estimate rests on solid ground; where data are sparse, the model leans more heavily on regional patterns.
Two further points are worth keeping in mind. First, different data vintages coexist: the WHO’s fact sheets cite GBD 2021, while Our World in Data’s country tables use the newer GBD 2023. Both ultimately come from IHME, but the vintage is labeled throughout this piece so figures are not mistaken for one another. Second, the depression figures here are age-standardized for 2023 — a different metric from the crude, all-ages anxiety and total-disorder figures used in related analyses, so the tables should not be stacked directly against those without noting the mismatch.
Countries With the Highest Depression Rates
Ranked by age-standardized 2023 prevalence, the highest-rate countries fall into two broad groups: nations marked by prolonged conflict and displacement, and a cluster of high-income European countries with mature reporting systems.
| Rank | Country | Estimated prevalence (age-standardized, 2023) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Syria | 7.95% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 6.80% |
| 3 | Netherlands | 6.21% |
| 4 | Congo | 5.88% |
| 5 | DR Congo | 5.86% |
| 6 | Central African Republic | 5.81% |
| 7 | Angola | 5.78% |
| 8 | Tunisia | 5.68% |
| 9 | Lebanon | 5.58% |
| 10 | Ukraine | 5.31% |
| 11 | Switzerland | 5.21% |
| 12 | Greece | 5.20% |
| 13 | Afghanistan | 5.16% |
Source: IHME (GBD 2023), via Our World in Data.
Syria tops the list at an estimated 7.95%, and the presence of Lebanon, Ukraine, and Afghanistan alongside it points to a well-documented link between armed conflict, displacement, and elevated depression. But the second and third spots belong to the United Kingdom (6.80%) and the Netherlands (6.21%) — wealthy, stable countries whose high rankings almost certainly owe something to strong surveillance and a greater willingness to seek and record a diagnosis. A Central African cluster — Congo, DR Congo, the Central African Republic, and Angola, all near 5.8% — sits just behind.
Countries With the Lowest Depression Rates
At the other end, the lowest-prevalence countries are led by Singapore, whose estimated 1.73% is the lowest in the world and less than a quarter of Syria’s rate.
| Rank | Country | Estimated prevalence (age-standardized, 2023) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore | 1.73% |
| 2 | Romania | 2.15% |
| 3 | Croatia | 2.25% |
| 4 | Thailand | 2.25% |
| 5 | Indonesia | 2.38% |
| 6 | Italy | 2.47% |
| 7 | Vietnam | 2.49% |
Source: IHME (GBD 2023), via Our World in Data.
The list mixes high-income (Singapore, Italy), middle-income (Romania, Croatia, Thailand), and lower-middle-income (Indonesia, Vietnam) countries, which is a clue that low estimates are not simply a function of wealth. Two European Union members, Romania and Croatia, and one wealthy city-state, Singapore, sit near the bottom — a striking contrast with their high-income peers in the top table. That divergence among comparably developed nations is one of the strongest signals that measurement practices, not just underlying rates, shape these numbers.
Depression by Income Group
Grouping the world’s countries by World Bank income category flattens the noise of individual nations and reveals a counterintuitive pattern.
| Income group | Estimated depression prevalence (age-standardized, 2023) |
|---|---|
| Low-income | 4.79% |
| High-income | 4.02% |
| Lower-middle-income | 3.89% |
| Upper-middle-income | 3.50% |
Source: IHME (GBD 2023), via Our World in Data.
Low-income countries carry the highest estimated prevalence (4.79%), while upper-middle-income countries carry the lowest (3.50%) — the relationship is not a simple ladder where richer means healthier. High-income countries actually rank second-highest, above both middle-income tiers. This partly reflects the burden of instability and conflict in some low-income nations, and partly the greater detection and recording of depression in high-income systems. It is a reminder that a higher measured rate does not automatically mean a sicker population.
Why Cross-Country Comparisons Are Tricky
The single most important thing to understand about a depression-rates ranking is that a higher number can mean two very different things: more actual depression, or more depression being found and counted. Countries differ dramatically in how many mental health surveys they run, how those surveys define a case, and how comfortable their populations are disclosing symptoms. A wealthy country with routine screening, low stigma, and easy access to care will surface cases that an under-resourced health system would never record — inflating its apparent rate even if the true burden is similar.
The WHO World Mental Health Surveys — a cross-national research program whose fieldwork ran roughly from 2001 to 2011 — captured this paradox directly. Lifetime rates of major depression were higher in high-income countries (14.6%) than in low- and middle-income countries (11.1%), with the highest lifetime rates, above 18%, in France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States (Bromet et al.). Yet the surveys also found that the highest-prevalence countries generally reported the lowest levels of impairment among people with depression — consistent with wealthier nations detecting a broader, milder spectrum of cases. Those figures are now more than a decade old and should be read as historical benchmarks, but the underlying lesson holds: prevalence rankings partly measure a country’s willingness and ability to look.
Where the United States Fits
Against this backdrop, the United States sits in the upper-middle of the high-income pack rather than at the top. Its estimated age-standardized depression prevalence was about 4.62% in 2023 — above the world figure of 3.81% and the high-income average of 4.02%, but below several European peers (IHME via Our World in Data, 2023).
| Country | Estimated prevalence (age-standardized, 2023) |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 6.80% |
| Netherlands | 6.21% |
| Switzerland | 5.21% |
| Greece | 5.20% |
| Sweden | 4.63% |
| United States | 4.62% |
| World | 3.81% |
Source: IHME (GBD 2023), via Our World in Data.
In other words, the U.S. is not the “most depressed” wealthy country by this measure — the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Greece all rank higher. For the fuller comparison of how American mental health stacks up internationally, see our analysis of mental health in America versus other countries, and for depression’s place within the broader burden of disease, our world mental health rankings overview.
Depression is also just one piece of a larger picture: the WHO estimates that nearly 1 in 7 people worldwide — about 1.1 billion — were living with a mental disorder in 2021, with anxiety and depression the two most common (WHO, 2025). Even where depression is well measured, treatment remains scarce; in high-income countries, only about one third of people with depression receive treatment (WHO, 2025). Those gaps are echoed on our national mental health overview and, for women specifically, our women’s mental health population page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people have depression worldwide?
The World Health Organization estimates that about 332 million people were living with depression in 2021 — roughly 4% of the world’s population and around 5.7% of adults, based on the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study (WHO, 2025).
Which country has the highest depression rate?
By age-standardized 2023 estimates, Syria has the highest rate at 7.95%, followed by the United Kingdom (6.80%) and the Netherlands (6.21%) (IHME via Our World in Data, 2023). These are modeled estimates, and the high rankings of wealthy countries partly reflect stronger detection and reporting rather than only higher true prevalence.
Which country has the lowest depression rate?
Singapore has the lowest estimated age-standardized rate at 1.73%, followed by Romania (2.15%), Croatia (2.25%), and Thailand (2.25%) (IHME via Our World in Data, 2023).
Are depression rates higher in rich or poor countries?
By income group, low-income countries have the highest estimated prevalence (4.79%) and upper-middle-income countries the lowest (3.50%), with high-income countries second at 4.02% (IHME via Our World in Data, 2023). The relationship is not a simple ladder, and higher measured rates in wealthy nations partly reflect greater screening and help-seeking.
Why do depression rates vary so much between countries?
Part of the variation is real, driven by factors like conflict, displacement, and social conditions. But a large share reflects differences in survey availability, case definitions, stigma, and access to care — so a higher number can mean more depression is being detected and recorded, not just that more exists (Bromet et al.).
How does the United States compare on depression?
The U.S. estimated age-standardized rate was about 4.62% in 2023 — above the world average of 3.81% but below the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Greece (IHME via Our World in Data, 2023). By this measure the U.S. is not the most depressed high-income country.
Sources
- World Health Organization. Depressive disorder (depression) — Fact sheet. WHO; 2025 (Global Burden of Disease 2021). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
- World Health Organization. Mental disorders (fact sheet). WHO; 2025 (Global Burden of Disease 2021). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders
- IHME, Global Burden of Disease (GBD 2023), presented by Our World in Data. Depressive disorders prevalence by country. 2023. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/depressive-disorders-prevalence-ihme
- Bromet E, et al. Cross-national epidemiology of DSM-IV major depressive episode (WHO World Mental Health Surveys). PMC; survey data ~2001–2011. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4100461/