More than six per cent of the total population is suffering from either a common or a severe mental disorder such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia, Health Minister JP Nadda said on Tuesday.

"In 2005, the National Commission on Macroeconomic and Health reported that 10-20 million (1-2 per cent of population) suffered from severe mental disorder such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and nearly 50 million (5 per cent of the population) from common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, yielding an overall estimate of 6.5 per cent of the population," the Union Minister said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

He said there were three centrally-run mental health institutes, 40 state-run medical hospitals and 398 departments of psychiatry in various medical colleges (183 in government and 215 in private) across the country to treat patients suffering from mental illnesses, including schizophrenia both in urban and rural areas. "The government is also implementing the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) in 241 districts in all the 36 states/UTs. Activities under DMHP include school and college counselling services, work place stress management and suicide prevention and community outreach activities," he said.