Parental burnout statistics worldwide

Updated October 2026

Parental burnout affects a minority of parents, and it is more common in some countries than others. The first two key figures below show how many, from a cross-cultural study of parents in many countries ¹ and a systematic review of research on parental burnout ². The third is from a review of trials of support programmes.

Parental burnout is exhaustion that comes from the demands of parenting itself: feeling drained, emotionally distant from your children, and no longer the parent you want to be. It differs from ordinary tiredness and from depression, and it can affect any parent who carries too much for too long with too little support.

Research on parental burnout is young. Most figures come from the cross-cultural study, by Roskam and colleagues, which asked parents in many countries the same questions. It reached parents mostly through convenience and snowball samples (parents who chose to answer, or whom other participants invited) rather than national surveys. Each figure below names its sample, and the figures describe the parents who took part, not whole populations. A cut-off is the score on a questionnaire at which a person counts as likely to have a condition; it is not a diagnosis. A meta-analysis is a study that pools the results of many studies, and randomised trial arms are groups of parents placed in a programme or a comparison group by chance. An effect size shows how big a change or a difference is, on a common scale across studies; the further it is from zero, the bigger the change.

Getting help

If something on this page reflects what you are going through, you do not have to manage it alone. Our guide to finding the right therapist explains how to choose someone qualified, and the TherapyRoute directory lists therapists in many countries.

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, our list of helplines and crisis lines worldwide gives free services by country. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

How common parental burnout is

The cross-cultural study cites a cautious overall estimate and notes large differences between countries ¹.

• A cross-cultural study of parental burnout surveyed 17,409 parents in forty-two countries with the same questionnaire, mostly through convenience and snowball samples. (survey, 2017-2020 data) ¹

Mothers, new parents and stressful times

Smaller studies report figures for mothers, parents of young babies and parents under extra pressure, such as during lockdowns ^{2 4}. They used different questionnaires and cut-offs, so compare them with care. A validation study tests whether a questionnaire measures what it sets out to measure, and does so consistently. The Chile trial figure describes the mothers who joined that trial, not teleworking mothers in general.

• In a Polish validation study of parents with a child under five, 9.3% of mothers met the threshold for parental burnout at a cut-off score of eighty-six, about four times the share of fathers. (survey, at one point in time, published 2024, fieldwork year not stated) ²
• In a study of mothers in their first year after birth at one clinic in China, about 10% had parental burnout, and it went with postnatal depressive symptoms. (survey, at one point in time, 2020-2021 data) ⁵
• A French study found maternal burnout in 20% of mothers aged twenty to forty-nine, measured with the short Burnout Measure. (survey, at one point in time, published 2024, fieldwork year not stated) ²
• In a sample of Spanish parents, mostly mothers, surveyed in early June 2020, just after the lockdown, 6% showed very high levels of parental burnout that the authors judged to need professional help. (survey, at one point in time, 2020 data) ⁴
• In a validation study of Lebanese parents, up to 6.5% met the threshold for parental burnout, depending on the cut-off used. (survey, at one point in time, published 2024, fieldwork year not stated) ²
• In a Belgian study that tested a new parental burnout questionnaire, between 2% and 12% of parents had burnout, depending on the cut-off used. (survey, at one point in time, published 2017, fieldwork year not stated) ⁶
• Among teleworking mothers randomised in an online trial in Chile, 39% had high parental burnout at the start. (randomised trial, at one point in time, 2022-2023 data) ⁷

Burnout and children's safety

One survey of parents found that parental burnout went with neglect of and violence towards children, and with thoughts of escape or suicide ⁸. This is one study showing an association. It does not show that burnout causes harm, and most parents with burnout do not harm their children. It is a reason to seek support early, not a judgement on parents. If you are worried you might harm yourself or your child, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide, or talk to a doctor or therapist.

• In one survey of 1,551 parents, parental burnout, more than job burnout, went with neglect of and violence towards children and with thoughts of escape or suicide. (survey published 2018, fieldwork year not stated) ⁸

What has helped in trials

Researchers have tested programmes that help parents share the load, lower impossible standards and recover energy. In a meta-analysis, randomised trials of these programmes reduced parental burnout more than control conditions did, with effects lasting up to three months ³. One trial in Chile found that an online programme reduced burnout over nine months, but no more than an active comparison programme did ⁷.

• In a trial in Chile, burnout among mothers working from home fell over nine months in an online programme (effect size 0.67), but no more than in a comparison programme. (randomised trial, 2022-2023 data) ⁷

Differences between countries

On average, parents in Western, more individualistic countries reported burnout more often than parents in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries, though some Western countries, such as Italy and Germany, had low rates. The researchers found that individualism, a culture's focus on the individual rather than the group, went with higher rates ¹. It played a larger role than economic inequality between countries or family characteristics such as the number of children ¹. The cross-cultural study used two cut-off scores for burnout; these figures use the lower one, a score of eighty-six, and the stricter cut-off gives lower figures. The figures come from samples of parents in each country, not national surveys, all using the same questionnaire. Read each row with its label; the samples differ, so small gaps between countries may not mean much.

How to read these figures

Most of the studies on this page did not use nationally representative samples.

Researchers recruited most samples online, and most participants were mothers, so they may not reflect fathers or parents without internet access.

Different cut-off scores on the same questionnaire give different figures, which is why some studies report a range ⁶.

In the cross-cultural study, the order of countries changes between the lower and the stricter cut-off ¹.

Parental burnout is not the same as depression, though the two can occur together.

Burnout is a sign of too much demand and too little support, not of a bad parent. Sharing tasks, asking for help, protecting time to rest and easing expectations can all help, and so can talking it through with someone who understands.

If you feel exhausted, distant from your children or unable to cope, a psychologist or counsellor can help you recover; see Getting help near the top of this page.

Cite this page: TherapyRoute. Parental burnout statistics worldwide. https://www.therapyroute.com/article/parental-burnout-statistics-worldwide-by-therapyroute. Last updated 19 October 2026.

References

1. [1] Parental Burnout Around the Globe: a 42-Country Study. Affective Science (Roskam et al.), 2021 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
2. [2] A systematic review of parental burnout and related factors among parents. BMC Public Health (Ren et al.), 2024 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
3. [3] A meta-analysis of parental burnout interventions. Journal of Affective Disorders (Urbanowicz et al.), 2025 europepmc.org.
4. [4] Psychometric Properties of Parental Burnout Assessment and Prevalence of Parental Burnout: A Person-Centered Approach. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology (Suárez et al.), 2022 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
5. [5] Exploring the relationship between postnatal depressive symptoms and parental burnout from the perspective of the population and individual level. BMC Psychiatry (Huang et al.), 2023 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
6. [6] Exhausted Parents: Development and Preliminary Validation of the Parental Burnout Inventory. Frontiers in Psychology (Roskam et al.), 2017 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
7. [7] An Internet-Based Mindfulness- and Compassion-Based Intercare Program for Reducing Parental Burnout: Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research (Villalón López and Escaffi-Schwarz), 2026 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
8. [8] Consequences of parental burnout: Its specific effect on child neglect and violence. Child Abuse and Neglect (Mikolajczak et al.), 2018 europepmc.org.