GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — The World Health Organization opened its 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, with mental health among more than 75 items on the agenda. Delegates are convening as the number of people living with a mental health condition continues to rise globally.

More than one billion people, roughly one in eight globally, are currently living with a mental health condition. Median government spending on mental health worldwide stands at just two percent of health budgets, ranging from $0.04 per capita in low-income countries to $0.34 in lower-middle income countries and $65.89 in high-income countries.

The WHO and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) categorize mental health conditions, which affect how people feel, think and behave, into several groups. Mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorders, affect a person's mental state, often leading to prolonged periods of sadness or mood swings. Anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety and phobias, and are characterized by fear or worry. Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, involve delusions, distorted thinking and hallucinations. Trauma-related disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, develop in response to distressing or life-threatening events. Other categories include eating disorders, personality disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, dissociative disorders and substance use disorders.

Depressive disorders affect 694.6 people per 100,000 globally, while anxiety disorders affect 686.5 per 100,000. Schizophrenia affects 210.2 per 100,000, bipolar disorder 94.6 per 100,000, and eating disorders 47.5 per 100,000. An estimated 332 million people live with depression and 359 million with an anxiety disorder, the latter figure having increased by more than 50 percent since 1990. Only one in four people with anxiety receives treatment.

In 2019, 15.6 percent of the population in the Americas had a mental health disorder, followed by 14.7 percent in the Eastern Mediterranean region, 14.2 percent in Europe, 13.2 percent in Southeast Asia, 11.7 percent in the Western Pacific and 10.9 percent in Africa. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of mental health disorders rose globally, with anxiety and depression increasing in particular.

Portugal has the highest rate of anxiety globally at 13.3 percent of the population, followed by Brazil at 12.4 percent and Iran at 12.3 percent. Syria has the highest rate of depressive disorders at eight percent, followed by the United Kingdom at 6.8 percent and the Netherlands at 6.2 percent.

About 740,000 suicides are reported annually, averaging one death every 43 seconds. Suicide is the 17th leading cause of death across all age ranges globally, the third leading cause among people aged 15 to 29, and the second leading cause among women in that age group. In 2021, the global suicide rate was 12.8 per 100,000 for males and 5.4 per 100,000 for females. Refugees, Indigenous people and the LGBTQ+ community have higher rates of suicide.