Mental Health Statistics (2026): 79 Sourced Figures

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This page collects figures on the prevalence of mental illness and depression, and on mental health treatment. Most figures cover the United States. Every number links to the document that first published it. Adult and adolescent estimates come from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), run by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Depression screening figures come from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). High school figures come from the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Global figures come from the World Health Organization (WHO). Figures on suicide are on a separate page, Suicide Statistics. For a comparison of the electronic health record and practice software that therapy and psychiatry practices use, see the StatWharf comparison of mental health software.

Key figures at a glance

Mental illness among US adults

NSDUH is SAMHSA’s annual household survey of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged 12 and older. Results for 2025 were released in July 2026 (HHS Publication No. PEP26-07-010). NSDUH estimates any mental illness (AMI) and serious mental illness (SMI) for adults only, using a statistical prediction model. SMI is the subset of AMI that resulted in serious functional impairment. SAMHSA notes that some 2021 to 2024 estimates differ from earlier publications because the mental illness model was updated in 2025.

• The adult AMI share in 2025 showed no statistically significant change from 2021, when it was 21.0%.
• SMI fell from 7.9% (20.1 million) in 2021 to 6.9% (18.2 million) in 2025.
• Among young adults aged 18 to 25, AMI fell from 33.2% in 2021 and SMI from 16.8% in 2021 to the 2025 levels shown below.

By age, 2025

Mental illness and substance use disorder

NSDUH cannot establish whether a person met the criteria for mental illness and a substance use disorder (SUD) at the same point in the year. It reports both conditions within the same 12 months.

• 29.8% of adults (78.9 million) had either AMI or an SUD in the past year in 2025.
• 7.0% of adults (18.5 million) had both AMI and an SUD. That group is about one third of the 54.6 million adults with AMI.
• Of the 18.2 million adults with SMI, about two fifths (7.8 million) also had an SUD.

Depression

Major depressive episode (NSDUH)

A major depressive episode (MDE) in NSDUH is a period of at least two weeks of depressed mood or loss of interest, with other symptoms, in the past year.

Depression prevalence by screening (NHANES)

NCHS Data Brief No. 527 (April 2025) uses the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), in which participants complete the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Depression is defined as a score of 10 or higher, covering symptoms in the past two weeks. This measure is not comparable with the NSDUH past-year estimates above.

• Depression prevalence was 13.1% among people aged 12 and older in August 2021 to August 2023, up from 8.2% in 2013 to 2014.
• Prevalence was higher among females, 16.0%, than among males, 10.1%.
• Among adolescents aged 12 to 19, prevalence was 26.5% in females and 12.2% in males.
• Prevalence fell with family income, from 22.1% among people below the federal poverty level to 7.4% among those at or above 400% of it.
• 87.9% of people with depression reported at least some difficulty with work, home or social activities because of their symptoms.
• 39.3% of people with depression had received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional in the previous 12 months.

Young people

High school students (YRBS)

The CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is a national school-based survey. CDC published the 2023 results in an MMWR Supplement on October 10, 2024. The overview report in that supplement summarizes the mental health findings.

• 39.7% of high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2023.
• 28.5% experienced poor mental health.

Adolescents aged 12 to 17 (NSDUH)

• 27.6% of adolescents (7.0 million) received mental health treatment in the past year, including 20.3% (5.2 million) in an outpatient setting.
• Of adolescents with a past-year MDE, 57.7% (2.1 million) received mental health treatment and 42.3% (1.6 million) did not.

Mental health treatment in the United States

SAMHSA counts mental health treatment as inpatient or outpatient treatment or counseling, prescription medication for mental health, telehealth treatment, or treatment in a prison, jail or juvenile detention center. Because the treatment questions changed in 2024, SAMHSA presents treatment estimates for 2025 only.

• Treatment was less common among adults aged 50 or older, 17.1%, than among adults aged 18 to 25, 24.5%, or 26 to 49, 25.9%.
• Among adults with SMI, young adults aged 18 to 25 were less likely to receive treatment, 63.0%, than adults aged 26 to 49, 68.5%.

Unmet need and reasons for not receiving treatment

Of the 54.6 million adults with AMI, 26.9 million received no mental health treatment in 2025. Of those, 21.4% (5.6 million) perceived an unmet need for treatment. Among adults with SMI who received no treatment, 40.5% (2.3 million) perceived an unmet need.

SAMHSA notes that differences between these reasons are not necessarily statistically significant, so they should not be read as a ranking.

Global figures

The WHO fact sheets on mental disorders and on depression were last updated on September 11, 2026. Prevalence figures in both draw on the 2023 Global Burden of Disease study.

• In 2023, nearly 1 in 7 people, or 1.2 billion, were living with a mental disorder. Anxiety and depressive disorders were the most common.
• 470 million people were living with an anxiety disorder, including 146 million children and adolescents.
• 322 million people were living with depression, including 43 million children and adolescents.
• 36 million people experienced bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia affected about 27 million people, or 1 in 300.
• 18 million people experienced eating disorders, including 4.7 million children and adolescents.
• Only 40% of people with psychosis receive formal mental health care.
• An estimated 5.2% of adults worldwide experienced depression in 2023: 4.1% of men and 6.2% of women.
• In high-income countries, only about one third of people with depression receive mental health treatment.

Method

• Data window. Figures date from 2013 to September 2026. The page uses the latest release of each series at the check date. Earlier years appear only as trend baselines.
• Primary sources only. Each figure links to the body that published it: SAMHSA, CDC NCHS, the CDC MMWR and the WHO. WHO global prevalence figures are WHO’s reporting of the Global Burden of Disease study and are attributed to WHO. Statistics aggregators, advocacy roundups and news articles that re-quote figures were not used.
• Checks. StatWharf Editorial opened each source in November 2026 and checked that the figure and its date appear there. SAMHSA and CDC pages were read from the published HTML. Figures without a traceable primary source were left out.
• No modeling. The page reports published figures only. No value is estimated by StatWharf. Chart bar lengths are scaled to the largest value shown.
• Measures differ. NSDUH AMI and SMI are model-based past-year estimates for adults. NSDUH MDE is a past-year measure. NHANES depression is a PHQ-9 screen covering the past two weeks. YRBS surveys students in school. Comparisons are valid within one source, not across sources.
• Safe messaging. The page follows recommendations for reporting on mental health and suicide. It reports no detail on means of self-harm and lists crisis support at the top and bottom.

Using these figures

About one in five US adults had a mental illness in the past year in 2025, and about half of them received treatment. Writers who cite these figures can include the 988 Lifeline. Practices comparing clinical record and billing systems can see the StatWharf comparison of mental health software. Other StatWharf data pages are listed in the research directory. Send corrections to any figure to the editorial address below.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. Veterans can call 988 and press 1.

Factual corrections are free: editorial@statwharf.com.