More than 50 million adults, or 20.8 percent of the U.S. population, experienced a mental illness in 2020, according to a report by Mental Health America.
The 2023 "State of Mental Health in America" report gathered data from health screenings from populations in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., through 2020 to assess the mental health of Americans. The report was released in October 2022.
Here are six statistics on mental illness in the U.S. to know.
- The report said of the adults who experienced a mental illness, 5.4 percent were considered to have experienced a severe mental illness.
- The percentage of adults who reported any symptoms of depression and anxiety increased from 11 percent to 40 percent from 2019 to 2020.
- Mental illness was most prevalent in Utah, where 29.7 percent of adults reported experiencing a mental illness the past year. California, the nation's most populated state, had the highest instance of mental illness, with 6,169,000 people indicating they experienced a mental illness in the past year.
- The report said 16.4 percent of youths ages 12 to 17 reported experiencing a major depressive episode between 2019 and 2020.
- Major depressive episodes among youths were most prevalent in Oregon, where 21.1 percent of children, or 63,000 individuals, reported experiencing an episode.
- California had the most instances of major depressive episodes in children, with 447,000 young people indicating they experienced an episode. Texas followed closely behind; 429,000 of the state's children indicated experiencing a major depressive episode.