Nature | News Feature Mental health: A world of depression A global view of the burden caused by depression.

Infographic by Carl De Torres Depression is a major human blight. Globally, it is responsible for more ‘years lost’ to disability than any other condition. This is largely because so many people suffer from it — some 350 million, according to the World Health Organization — and the fact that it lasts for many years. (When ranked by disability and death combined, depression comes ninth behind prolific killers such as heart disease, stroke and HIV.) Yet depression is widely undiagnosed and untreated because of stigma, lack of effective therapies and inadequate mental-health resources. Almost half of the world’s population lives in a country with only two psychiatrists per 100,000 people. Sources: Prevalence: A. J. Ferrari et al. PLoS Med. 10, e1001547 (2013) based on data from 2010; Psychiatrists (2011): World Health Organization Source: NIH (US spending) Source: World Health Organization (2010) Journal name: Nature Volume: 515 , Pages: 180–181 Date published: ( 13 November 2014 ) DOI: doi :10.1038/515180a

Author information Author details Kerri Smith Search for this author in NPG journals PubMed Google Scholar



For the best commenting experience, please login or register as a user and agree to our Community Guidelines. You will be re-directed back to this page where you will see comments updating in real-time and have the ability to recommend comments to other users.

Comments Subscribe to comments

There are currently no comments.