How Many People Are Diagnosed with Depression Each Year?

A "disease burden" is defined as living for years with a disease. The World Health Organization (WHO), in the most up-to-date survey of its kind from 2000, reported that depression is the fourth most burdensome disease in the world, with more than 120 million people suffering from it worldwide. It's expected that by 2020 it will be the leading global disease burden. In the United States alone, estimates for those diagnosed with the disease range from 17 to 21 million people a year or roughly 10 percent of the country, though WHO reports that rates can vary by region, with as little as 5 percent of South and East Asians suffering from depression, and as many as 25 percent of the population suffering from it in Eastern European and former Soviet countries like Hungary, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland. It should be noted that statistics are hard to come by and may be dramatically "off" in turbulent or developing nations.

Diagnosis

• On the lower end of the scale, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reported in 2008 that 17 million American adults are diagnosed annually with depression. On the higher end, according to 2008 estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 21 million Americans are diagnosed with depression each year. These individuals have either been diagnosed with major depression or dysthymia, the former interfering with work and once-pleasant experiences, and the latter persisting for at least two years but with symptoms that are not as disabling as major depression.

Risk Factors

• According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with depression in any given year. The CDC also reports that adults in the 40- to 59-year-old range, African Americans, and economically disadvantaged individuals are more likely to be diagnosed with depression.

Severity

• As the diagnoses of major depression and dysthymia indicate, there are various levels of depression. On an annual basis, 80 percent of those diagnosed have depression severe enough to interfere with the way they function at home or at work, while nearly 30 percent of those diagnosed have depression so severe that it warrants professional help. Less than half of those diagnosed with major depression actually seek help, according to the CDC.

Suicide

• According to the Journal of Employee Assistance, 90 percent of those who are diagnosed with depression worldwide go on to try to commit or succeed in committing suicide. Depression is the number one contributor to suicide. Most of those who eventually commit suicide are men; men are only half as likely to seek treatment for the disease as are women.

Future Diagnoses

• The WHO believes that by 2020 depression will be the leading cause of disease burden. Depression already afflicts more American adults than do cancer, AIDS and coronary heart disease, according to the NIMH. It's also estimated that the number of people diagnosed with depression each year costs $83 billion annually, just in costs associated with decreased productivity and increased absenteeism in the workplace, according to the Journal of Employee Assistance.