Jennifer Mendoza
Research expert covering health, pharma and medtech
Depression in Italy - Statistics & Facts
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, affecting millions of people worldwide. Risk factors for depression can include personal traumas, stressful life events, medical conditions, medications, specific genetics, and brain chemistry. In 2022, around 27 percent of individuals aged 18-24 years worldwide were suffering from moderate to severe depression. Depression causes continuous feelings of sadness and loss of interest, leading people to have trouble with their ability to function in everyday life. Women are particularly prone to suffer from depression and symptoms of depression. As a matter of fact, between 2021 and 2022, the percentage of Italian women reporting symptoms of depression amounted to 8.2 percent, while 4.5 percent of men reported depressive symptoms. During the same period, the Italian region with the highest percentage of individuals reporting symptoms of depression was Sardinia, with 11.7 percent of adults aged between 18 and 69 years suffering from depression. One possible explanation for such a high rate is the frequent occurrence in Sardinia of autoimmune thyroiditis, especially among women, which is correlated with depressive disorders. The COVID-19 pandemic had a great repercussion on mental health, causing an extensive increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression globally. In Italy, the percentage of people reporting symptoms of depression increased from 5.9 percent in 2019 to 6.7 percent in 2020.
