Story Highlights
- Both lifetime clinical depression and current depression have reached new highs
- Women and young adults saw the largest increases
- Black and Hispanic adults are growing about twice as fast as white adults
WASHINGTON, DC — The percentage of American adults reporting being diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives reached 29.0 percent, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015. The percentage of Americans who are currently suffering from or being treated for depression. also increased, to 17.8%, up about seven points over the same period. Both rates are the highest recorded by Gallup since it began measuring depression using the current form of data collection in 2015.
Line graph: increasing trends in lifetime and current rates of depression. In 2023, 29.0% of Americans report having been diagnosed with depression in their lifetime, while 17.8% report currently experiencing depression.
The most recent results, obtained February 21-28, 2023, are based on 5,167 U.S. adults interviewed via the internet as part of the survey. Gallup Panel, a probability panel of approximately 100,000 adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Respondents were asked, “Has a doctor or nurse ever told you that you have depression?” and “Are you currently suffering from or currently being treated for depression?” » Both measures are part of the ongoing process Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index.
Rates among women, young adults, black and Hispanic adults are increasing fastest
More than a third of women (36.7%) now report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives, compared to 20.4% of men, and their rate has increased almost twice as much as that of men. men since 2017. People aged 18 to 29 (34.3%) and 30 to 44 (34.9%) have significantly higher lifetime rates of depression diagnosis than those over 44 .
Women (23.8%) and adults aged 18 to 29 (24.6%) also have the highest rates of depression or treatment for depression. These two groups (up 6.2 and 11.6 percentage points, respectively), along with adults aged 30 to 44, have the rates increasing the fastest compared to 2017 estimates.
Lifetime rates of depression are also rising rapidly among black and Hispanic adults and now exceed those of white respondents. (Historically, white adults have reported slightly higher rates of lifetime and current depression.)
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Consequences
Alarming rates of depression are not unique to the United States. four out of 10 adults aged 15 and older either have significant depression or anxiety themselves or have a close friend or family member who does. Other Gallup Research estimated that 22% of North American adults have suffered from depression or anxiety so extreme that they were unable to continue regular daily activities for two weeks or more, a rate similar to a global rate of 19% and matching estimates found in Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.
Clinical depression was slowly increasing in the United States before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has increased significantly in its wake. Social isolation, loneliness, fear of infection, psychological burnout (especially among frontline responders such as health care workers), increased substance abuse, and disruptions to mental health services have likely play a role. While the experiences of significant daily loneliness Although depression has eased over the past two years amid widespread vaccination and a slow return to normal, increased experiences of loneliness during the pandemic likely played an important role in increasing rates of depression. long-term chronic depression. Currently, 17% of American adults report experiencing significant loneliness “yesterday,” which represents approximately 44 million people.
Among subgroups, women have historically reported significantly higher levels of depression than men. The fact that this gap has widened further since 2017 is probably explained by several factors linked to COVID, including the fact that women were disproportionately likely to lose their jobs or leave the workforce entirely in part because of the pandemic forcing children home from school or daycare. Women also made up 78% of workers across all healthcare occupations in 2019, putting them at increased emotional and psychological risk associated with the pandemic.
Young adults, meanwhile, are more likely to be single and feel lonely, particularly during the pandemic. They also need more social time to improve their mood than the elderly, who are directly affected by COVID-19. Daily experiences of sadness, worry and anger – all of which are closely linked to depression – are higher among those under 30 and those with lower incomes. And, like women, young adults and people of color were disproportionately likely to lose their jobs due to the pandemic.
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