Twenty percent of children 12-17, 20% of adults 18-25 and 7% of adults 26 and older experienced major depressive episodes in 2021-2022, USAFacts found.
The "American in Facts 2024" report used information from the CDC, the U.S. Census Bureau, CMS, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health to compile national statistics about life expectancy, mental health and physical health between 2021 and 2022.
Mental illness has been on the rise in the past year, with about 35% of adults 18-25 and 21% of adults 26 and older experiencing any mental illness in 2021-2022.
Here are five takeaways about depression:
- Depression among people 12-17 and 18-25 increased throughout the 2010s.
- Adults 18-25 experienced mental illness in 2018-2019 at a rate nearly 10 percentage points higher in 2008-2009. By contrast, people 26 and older had an increase of less than one percentage point.
- Oregon saw the highest rate of depressive episodes for people 12-17 at 25% and the lowest was the District of Columbia at 16%.
- Oregon had the highest rate of depressive episodes for people 18-25 at 25.8% and Mississippi had the lowest at 14.2%.
- The District of Columbia had the highest rate of depressive episodes for people 26 and older at 9.3% and New Jersey had the lowest at 5.3%.