Rising Mental Health Strain: Countries Reporting the Highest Anxiety or Depression
Peru led the survey, while the worldwide benchmark was 19%
How to read this country comparison
The value for each country is the weighted percentage of respondents who answered yes when asked whether they had ever been so anxious or depressed that they could not continue their regular daily activities as they normally would for two weeks or longer.
What the percentage means
What the ranking means
What it does not mean
Anxiety and depression were combined in one survey question. The results cannot be divided into separate country rankings for the two conditions.
Top 20 countries by the share answering yes
The table uses country values from the Wellcome and Gallup dataset presented by Our World in Data. World Bank regional labels support geographic comparison and do not affect the rank.
| Rank | Country | Share | Region / context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peru | 49.3% | Latin America & Caribbean · +30.3 pp vs world |
| 2 | Ecuador | 42.7% | Latin America & Caribbean · +23.7 pp vs world |
| 3 | Zambia | 40.4% | Sub-Saharan Africa · +21.4 pp vs world |
| 4 | Dominican Republic | 38.4% | Latin America & Caribbean · +19.4 pp vs world |
| 5 | Bolivia | 38.4% | Latin America & Caribbean · +19.4 pp vs world |
| 6 | Venezuela | 38.2% | Latin America & Caribbean · +19.2 pp vs world |
| 7 | El Salvador | 38.1% | Latin America & Caribbean · +19.1 pp vs world |
| 8 | Chile | 37.3% | Latin America & Caribbean · +18.3 pp vs world |
| 9 | Cameroon | 36.3% | Sub-Saharan Africa · +17.3 pp vs world |
| 10 | Nicaragua | 35.3% | Latin America & Caribbean · +16.3 pp vs world |
| 11 | Argentina | 35.3% | Latin America & Caribbean · +16.3 pp vs world |
| 12 | Greece | 33.8% | Europe & Central Asia · +14.8 pp vs world |
| 13 | Côte d’Ivoire | 33.3% | Sub-Saharan Africa · +14.2 pp vs world |
| 14 | Costa Rica | 33.1% | Latin America & Caribbean · +14.1 pp vs world |
| 15 | Brazil | 33.0% | Latin America & Caribbean · +14.0 pp vs world |
| 16 | Tunisia | 32.7% | Middle East & North Africa · +13.7 pp vs world |
| 17 | Georgia | 32.6% | Europe & Central Asia · +13.6 pp vs world |
| 18 | Mauritius | 32.4% | Sub-Saharan Africa · +13.4 pp vs world |
| 19 | Kenya | 32.2% | Sub-Saharan Africa · +13.2 pp vs world |
| 20 | Iraq | 31.2% | Middle East & North Africa · +12.2 pp vs world |
“pp” means percentage points. The unrounded worldwide value is 19.017418%, displayed as 19.0%.
How far the Top 20 countries sit above the worldwide result
Every country in the Top 20 reported a share above 31%, compared with the worldwide result of 19.0%. Peru’s value was approximately 2.6 times the worldwide benchmark.
Survey design, weighting and uncertainty
The Wellcome Global Monitor methodology was included as a module in the Gallup World Poll. More than 119,000 people aged 15 and older participated across 113 countries and territories. Fieldwork ran from August 4, 2020, to February 18, 2021.
Sampling and collection
Weighting
Sampling uncertainty
Question development
Ranking method
- Individual countries with a published value in the dataset were eligible.
- World, regional and income-group aggregates were excluded from the country rank.
- Rows were sorted by the unrounded percentage from highest to lowest.
- Displayed values were rounded to one decimal place after ranking.
- The worldwide result of 19.0% was used for comparison and was not included as a ranked row.
- The Top 20 median of 35.3% was calculated from the unrounded values shown in the table.
Important limitations
The study was not designed to provide a clinical estimate of diagnosed anxiety or depressive disorders. It used one combined self-report question, while clinical assessment generally relies on structured interviews, diagnostic criteria or multi-item screening instruments.
Telephone-only interviewing reduced population coverage in some lower-income countries and may have produced samples that were more urban or higher-income than the full national population. Language, stigma, familiarity with mental health terms and willingness to disclose distress may also influence reported differences.
The results describe lifetime experience reported during the survey wave. They do not establish whether the measured share increased or decreased over time and should not be interpreted as current conditions in 2026.
Patterns visible in the country values
Peru is clearly separated
Ranks four to seven are close
Latin America is concentrated near the top
Reporting may reflect cultural factors
Why countries may report different shares
A higher percentage may reflect a greater burden of severe emotional distress, but the survey alone cannot identify a single cause. Economic insecurity, conflict, illness, social isolation and access to support may affect experience, while stigma and language may affect whether respondents describe that experience as anxiety or depression.
Age composition also matters when interpreting a lifetime question. Older respondents have had more years in which an episode could occur, yet Wellcome found that the reported share declined among older age groups. Lifetime reporting can therefore be affected by recall, cohort differences and willingness to disclose.
The worldwide benchmark provides essential context. A country value of 35% is roughly 16 percentage points above the 19% worldwide result for the same question.
Why burnout is outside this ranking
Burnout was not measured by the Wellcome question used in this table. The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon associated with chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, rather than as a medical condition. Combining workplace burnout scores with this survey response would compare different concepts and measurement methods.
See the WHO classification of burnout.
FAQ
Which country had the highest share in the survey?
Peru ranked first at 49.3%, followed by Ecuador at 42.7% and Zambia at 40.4%.
Does the percentage show diagnosed anxiety or depression?
It shows the weighted share of respondents who reported a life-disrupting experience in response to one survey question. It is not a clinical diagnosis or an epidemiological estimate of a disorder.
Why is the worldwide benchmark 19%?
Approximately one in five respondents worldwide answered yes to the same question. The unrounded worldwide value in the dataset is 19.017418%.
Can close ranks be treated as meaningful differences?
Not automatically. Country estimates have sampling error and design effects. Small differences should not be interpreted as precise separation without considering country confidence ranges.
Why does the page use the 2020 survey wave?
The ranking uses the published internationally comparable values available for this specific Wellcome question. Fieldwork ran from August 4, 2020, to February 18, 2021.
Sources
Our World in Data — country dataset
Wellcome Global Monitor 2020 — Mental Health
Wellcome — experience of anxiety or depression
Wellcome — survey methodology
World Health Organization — burnout
World Bank — regional classifications
