Of all the mental disorders tracked worldwide, one is more common than any other: anxiety. In 2021, an estimated 359 million people were living with an anxiety disorder — about 4.4% of the global population — making it the single most prevalent mental disorder on the planet (WHO, 2025). That total edges out even depression, and it includes an estimated 72 million children and adolescents, a reminder that anxiety often takes hold long before adulthood.
These figures come from the World Health Organization’s synthesis of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study, produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). It is important to be precise about what that means. Every country and regional number in this article is a modeled statistical estimate with a margin of uncertainty — not a tally of diagnosed cases. GBD builds these estimates from surveys, health records, and statistical modeling to make figures comparable across nations that measure mental health very differently.
This article maps where anxiety is estimated to be most and least common, which world regions carry the heaviest load, why two credible “global” figures (4.4% and 4.88%) can both be correct, and why so few of the people affected ever receive care. For the full clinical overview, see our anxiety statistics pillar page, and for the US-focused numbers, our companion piece on how many people have anxiety.
Anxiety: The Most Common Mental Disorder
Anxiety’s standing as the most common mental disorder is not a close call in raw human terms. The WHO’s 2025 fact sheets place anxiety disorders ahead of every other diagnostic category, with 359 million people affected in 2021 (WHO, 2025). For context, roughly 1 in 7 people — about 1.1 billion — were living with some mental disorder that year, and anxiety and depressive disorders were the two most common of them (WHO, 2025).
The 4.4% headline is an age-standardized rate, meaning it has been statistically adjusted so that countries with different age structures can be compared on equal footing. Anxiety affects females at higher rates than males and tends to surface early, with the overall disease burden from mental disorders peaking in the 15–19 age range. Understanding that age-standardization matters, because a second, slightly higher global figure appears throughout the underlying IHME data — a discrepancy we untangle below.
Highest-Prevalence Countries
When the IHME estimates are presented country by country (crude, all-ages figures for 2021, published through Our World in Data), a cluster of high-income nations sits at the top of the anxiety ranking, led by Portugal. These are modeled estimates, and higher measured prevalence in wealthier countries partly reflects stronger screening, awareness, and willingness to report symptoms — not necessarily more underlying illness.
| Rank | Country | Estimated anxiety prevalence (2021, crude, all-ages) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal | 11.42% |
| 2 | Malta | 10.84% |
| 3 | Brazil | 10.45% |
| 4 | Iran | 10.18% |
| 5 | Netherlands | 9.86% |
| 6 | Australia | 9.86% |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 9.46% |
| 8 | New Zealand | 9.36% |
| 9 | Ireland | 8.82% |
| 10 | Greece | 8.47% |
Source: IHME, Global Burden of Disease, via Our World in Data (2021).
At the other end of the scale, the lowest estimated prevalence is concentrated in parts of Asia. The gap between the highest and lowest countries is roughly fivefold — a spread that reflects genuine differences in risk factors as well as differences in how, and how often, anxiety is measured and recorded.
| Country | Estimated anxiety prevalence (2021, crude, all-ages) |
|---|---|
| Mauritius | 2.01% |
| Sri Lanka | 2.03% |
| Vietnam | 2.05% |
| Malaysia | 2.14% |
| Thailand | 2.27% |
Source: IHME, Global Burden of Disease, via Our World in Data (2021).
For a fuller comparison of how the United States stacks up against its peers on anxiety and depression, see mental health in America vs. other countries. The US estimate sits at 6.40% (2021, crude, all-ages), above the world average but below several of the high-income countries in the table above.
Anxiety by World Region
Grouped into WHO regions, the Americas carry the highest estimated anxiety burden of any world region by a wide margin. The regional pattern helps explain why several Western Hemisphere and European nations dominate the country ranking above.
| WHO region | Estimated anxiety prevalence (2021, crude, all-ages) |
|---|---|
| Region of the Americas | 7.31% |
| European Region | 5.52% |
| African Region | 5.35% |
| Eastern Mediterranean Region | 5.26% |
| South-East Asia Region | 4.47% |
| Western Pacific Region | 3.46% |
Source: IHME, Global Burden of Disease, via Our World in Data (2021).
The Americas’ 7.31% is more than double the Western Pacific’s 3.46%. As with the country figures, these regional numbers are modeled estimates, and the higher rates in the Americas and Europe are shaped in part by more extensive mental health screening and reporting infrastructure.
Two Global Numbers: The Crude vs. Age-Standardized Caveat
Careful readers will notice a discrepancy that is worth explaining rather than hiding. The WHO cites a global anxiety prevalence of 4.4%, while the same underlying IHME data, presented by Our World in Data, shows a global figure of 4.88% (2021). Both are correct — they are simply two different ways of counting.
- 4.4% (WHO) is age-standardized: adjusted to a common age structure so countries can be compared fairly.
- 4.88% (IHME via Our World in Data) is a crude, all-ages rate: the raw share of the total population, unadjusted for age.
The country and regional tables above all use the crude, all-ages metric, which is why their world benchmark is 4.88% rather than 4.4%. This distinction becomes critical when comparing anxiety figures against other mental health tables — depression country data, for example, is typically reported age-standardized, and the newest total-disorder data uses a different GBD vintage entirely. Comparing a crude figure directly against an age-standardized one, or a 2021 estimate against a 2023 one, produces misleading conclusions. When in doubt, match the metric and the year before drawing a comparison. Our world mental health rankings piece walks through those cross-table pitfalls in more detail.
The COVID-Era Upward Adjustment
Global anxiety estimates rose sharply between 1990 and 2021 in the GBD series, and part of that increase reflects a deliberate upward adjustment for the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic’s disruptions — isolation, bereavement, economic stress, and strain on health systems — were incorporated into the 2021 modeling, pushing estimated anxiety prevalence higher than pre-pandemic projections would have suggested.
This matters for interpretation. A large share of the rise in anxiety estimates over three decades is real, driven by population growth and better measurement, but the most recent jump is partly a pandemic-era correction built into the model. It is one more reason to treat these numbers as evolving estimates rather than fixed counts, and to check the study vintage before comparing figures across years.
The Global Treatment Gap
The most sobering statistic in global anxiety data is not how many people have the disorder, but how few receive care for it. Only about 27.6% — roughly one in four people — who need treatment for anxiety actually receive it (WHO, 2025). That leaves nearly three in four people living with anxiety without formal care.
The gap is widest in lower-income settings, where mental health services are scarce, but it is substantial even in wealthy countries. This treatment shortfall mirrors the pattern seen across mental health broadly, including depression, where formal care reaches only a minority of those affected worldwide. For the parallel global depression numbers, see our companion analyses on how many people have depression and depression rates by country. Across every dataset, the conclusion is the same: anxiety is common, measurable, and — for most of the people who have it — still untreated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people have anxiety worldwide?
An estimated 359 million people had an anxiety disorder in 2021 — about 4.4% of the global population, including roughly 72 million children and adolescents (WHO, 2025). This makes anxiety the most common of all mental disorders.
Which country has the highest anxiety rate?
By the IHME estimates (2021, crude, all-ages, via Our World in Data), Portugal has the highest estimated anxiety prevalence at 11.42%, followed by Malta (10.84%) and Brazil (10.45%). These are modeled estimates, and higher figures partly reflect stronger screening and reporting in high-income countries.
Why do the WHO (4.4%) and IHME (4.88%) global figures differ?
They use different metrics on the same underlying data. The WHO’s 4.4% is age-standardized (adjusted for age structure), while the 4.88% from IHME via Our World in Data is a crude, all-ages rate. Both are correct measures of global anxiety prevalence in 2021.
Which world region has the most anxiety?
The Region of the Americas has the highest estimated anxiety prevalence at 7.31% (2021, crude, all-ages, IHME via Our World in Data) — more than double the Western Pacific Region’s 3.46%.
How many people with anxiety get treatment?
Globally, only about 27.6%, or roughly one in four people, who need treatment for anxiety receive it (WHO, 2025). Nearly three-quarters of those affected go without formal care, with the largest gaps in lower-income countries.
Are these anxiety statistics exact case counts?
No. Every country and regional figure is a modeled statistical estimate from the Global Burden of Disease study, built from surveys and modeling with a margin of uncertainty — not a direct count of diagnosed cases (IHME via Our World in Data, 2021).
Sources
- World Health Organization. Mental disorders (fact sheet). WHO; 2025 (IHME GBD 2021). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders
- World Health Organization. Anxiety disorders (fact sheet). WHO; 2025 (IHME GBD 2021). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/anxiety-disorders
- IHME, Global Burden of Disease, presented by Our World in Data. Anxiety disorders prevalence by country. 2021. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/anxiety-disorders-prevalence