7.2% of people in the EU suffer from chronic depression

In 2019, 7.2% of EU citizens reported having chronic depression, a small increase compared with 2014 (+0.3 percentage points).

Among the EU countries, Slovenia (15.1%) had the highest share of the population reporting chronic depression in 2019, followed by Portugal (12.2%) and Sweden (11.7%).

In contrast, the share of people reporting chronic depression was lowest in Romania (1.0%), Bulgaria (2.7%) and Malta (3.5%).

 

In 2019, the proportion of people reporting chronic depression was higher for women than for men in all EU Member States.

Portugal recorded the highest proportion of women reporting chronic depression (16.4%), closely followed by Slovenia (16.0%). Slovenia also had the highest proportion of men reporting chronic depression (14.3%), followed by Sweden (10.0%) and Germany (9.9%).

This news is published on the occasion of World Suicide Prevention Day, joining the rest of the world in raising awareness about suicide and mental health.

Below is a chart with a ranking of the EU countries with the highest percentage of chronic depression to less (2019 data):

More information

Eurostat