Mental health needs among older adults worldwide 2021

In 2021, older French adults were most likely to report a mental health need compared to older adults of other high-income countries. When looking at a breakdown of U.S. adults by ethnicity, Hispanic adults had even higher mental health needs than the French. Mental health needs are defined here has having been diagnosed with mental health conditions, or the respondent experienced emotional distress they had difficulties coping with in the past 12 months. This statistic displays the percentage of adults aged 65 and older who reported a mental health need in 2021 worldwide.

Percentage of adults aged 65 and older who reported a mental health need in 2021 worldwide

Characteristic	Percentage of older adults
U.S. Hispanic	42%
France	31%
U.S. total	28%
U.S. White	28%
New Zealand	27%
Canada	24%
Australia	24%
U.S. Black	22%
United Kingdom	21%
Netherlands	19%
Sweden	19%
Switzerland	17%
Norway	16%
Germany	9%

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Release date

January 2022

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

March 1 to June 14, 2021

Number of respondents

18,477 respondents

Age group

65 years and older

Special properties

US adults are limited to those enrolled in Medicare

Method of interview

Telephone interviews and online survey

Supplementary notes

Mental health need — Respondents reported they had ever been told they had depression, anxiety, or other mental health conditions, or respondent experienced emotional distress such as anxiety or great sadness they felt difficult to cope with by themselves in the past 12 months.
Respondents: 18,477 adults age 65 and older across 11 countries: Australia (501), Canada (4,332), France (1,751), Germany (1,163), Netherlands (630), New Zealand (500), Norway (500), Sweden (3,018), Switzerland (2,597), United Kingdom (1,876), United States (1,609).

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