Most Googled Mental Health Concerns by Country in 2024

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, the Healthnews team analyzed the latest Google Trends data to find what mental health issues the world is most worried about in 2024.

Essentially, we input the most common mental health concerns into Google Trends to discover the relative search volume for each issue compared to the others on the list.

We looked at 50 of the most common mental health disorders and found that the most searched disorders by far are anxiety, depression, narcissism, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Anxiety is the top mental health concern in 43 of the 64 analyzed countries, followed by ADHD in 15 countries, depression in 4, and narcissism in 2.

Ukrainians are burdened by anxiety

Ukraine is the only country in the world where one mental health concern — anxiety — comprises 95% of all mental-health-related searches.

Only a fraction of Ukrainians search for other mental health issues, like ADHD (3%), PTSD (1%), OCD (1%), and depression (<1%).

The top 10 countries for anxiety inquiries are:

1. Ukraine (95%)
2. El Salvador (67%)
3. Guatemala (64%)
4. Brazil (61%)
5. Colombia (60%)
6. Venezuela (59%)
7. Indonesia (58%)
8. Ecuador (58%)
9. Mexico (57%)
10. Costa Rica (57%)

This data seems to suggest that anxiety is most prevalent in emerging economies.

However, there are many economically advanced countries, like the United States, where anxiety is also the leading mental health concern.

In the U.S., anxiety encompasses 48% of mental-health-related inquiries. Another 32% goes to ADHD, 8% to OCD, 8% to PTSD, and only 4% to depression.

ADHD inquiries are common in advanced economies

ADHD is the most common mental health concern among countries with advanced economies:

1. Denmark (50%)
2. Sweden (49%)
3. New Zealand (45%)
4. Australia (45%)
5. Norway (45%)
6. Finland (44%)
7. United Kingdom (43%)
8. Chile (42%)
9. Belgium (42%)
10. Ireland (40%)

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that these countries have the highest rates of ADHD.

Advanced economies might provide more information about ADHD, leading to higher recognition rates among its citizens.

Are Thai people most depressed globally?

Depression is the most googled mental health concern in four countries: Thailand (49% of searches), Japan (46%), Vietnam (43%), and Poland (35%).

While Thailand leads in searches related to depression, this does not necessarily mean that Thai people are the most depressed globally.

In Thailand, as in many other countries, high search volumes could indicate a growing awareness and willingness to seek information about mental health.

Additionally, it's important to analyze how depression is diagnosed and reported in different regions, as this can significantly affect perceived prevalence rates.

Methodology

Healthnews used Google Trends to analyze mental health concerns across different countries. Google Trends provides insights into the relative search volumes of specific topics and adapts queries to local contexts by translating them into local languages, including common abbreviations and typos. This feature ensures the accuracy and relevance of search data across various regions.

Here's how Healthnews conducted the study:

• Healthnews began with a list of the 50 most common mental health disorders based on current psychiatric literature and health databases.
• These disorders were entered into Google Trends to compare their search volumes. "Anxiety" was used as a constant control topic due to its highest search volume. This approach helped compare the relative interest in other disorders against a consistent baseline.
• By selecting the worldwide option, Google Trends provided a map showing the percentage of searches for each input topic in different countries.
• Healthnews recorded the relative search volumes for each disorder in each country. By comparing these volumes, clear patterns and differences in how various mental health disorders are searched for around the world were identified.

This approach allowed us to observe global mental health awareness. Using "anxiety" as a control term provided a consistent benchmark, and Google Trends' ability to adapt to local languages ensured that the data was relevant and accurate.