In the U.S., 21 percent of adults, or 52.9 million people, experienced mental illness in 2020, and the number of suicide deaths increased among all races and ethnicities from 2020 to 2021, according to the most recent data from the CDC.
Using data collected from the CDC and the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Alliance on Mental Illness broke down the prevalence of mental illness in the U.S. by race and ethnicity.
Using the most recent data available, here is a breakdown of the percent of each population demographic who experienced a mental illness in 2020:
- American Indian or Alaska Native: 18.7 percent
- Asian: 13.9 percent
- Black or African-American: 17.3 percent
- Hispanic or Latino: 18.4 percent
- Mixed/multiracial: 35.8 percent
- Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 16.6 percent
- White: 22.6 percent