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38% of Europe's population suffers from mental disorders each year
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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The most common of these ailments are anxiety, insomnia, and depression. The total damage from diseases of this group, inflicted on 30 European countries, amounts to €0.8 trillion.
According to a three-year study by the European Brain Research Council (EBC) and the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) conducted in 30 Euro-States (27 EU member states, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland), 38% of their population (i.e. 165 million out of 435 million) suffer from various types of mental disorders and neurological diseases every year. The combination of mental and organic disorders in one study is due to the fact that these conditions often (but not always) accompany each other. The most common disorders are anxiety, insomnia and depression (14%, 7% and 6.9% of the total number of diseases).
The previous study by the EBC/ECNP group, led by Hans-Ulrich Wittchen from the Technical University of Dresden (Germany), was completed in 2005; according to its estimates, the mentally ill and those suffering from organic brain disorders accounted for 27% of the total population of the countries in which it was conducted (301 million people). However, there is no statistically significant increase in the number of people suffering from mental and organic disorders - the new study took into account an additional 14 disorders, occurring mainly in children and the elderly. It should be noted that the estimates of European scientists are not overestimated; The World Mental Health Survey, conducted in 2008 in 28 countries, estimated the number of adults suffering from mental disorders at 33%.
Mr Wittchen's group will publish the full results of their study this October, which will include an estimate of the direct costs of treating mental disorders and organic brain diseases, and the indirect economic damage caused by these ailments. A 2005 paper estimated the direct burden on European health systems at €277 billion, with the total cost at €386 billion. Mr Wittchen expects the new estimate to be more than double that. Once again, data from other studies indirectly confirm that the group's conclusions are far from alarmist: the WHO estimates that brain disorders account for 13% of the cost of all diseases (more than the costs of cancer and cardiovascular disease).
According to experts, in order to combat mental illnesses and organic disorders, it is important to conduct population screening, which should begin at an early age, and (first of all) change people's perception of these diseases: they should in no way be perceived as something shameful or disgraceful.