Psychiatric medication statistics worldwide

Updated October 2026

Medicines for depression, anxiety, sleep, attention and psychosis are among the most widely prescribed in the world, and use differs greatly from country to country. The key figures below show how many people use them, from national health surveys ¹ and the World Health Organization's World Mental Health surveys ². National surveys, prescription records and estimated sales each show part of the picture.

Two kinds of figure appear here and they answer different questions. A share of people tells you how many people used a medicine. A sales volume tells you the estimated amount of medicine sold. It counts defined daily doses, the assumed average daily dose of a medicine for an adult, per thousand people per day. A volume is not a share of people, and you should never compare the two directly.

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.

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How many people use psychiatric medication

These figures count people. Psychotropic medicines act on the mind and mood. They include antidepressants, sleeping tablets and benzodiazepines, which are sedatives used for anxiety and sleep. Surveys ask about different time windows, from one point in time to the past year, and prescription records count anyone with a medicine dispensed, so each figure names its own measure. A meta-analysis, or pooled estimate, combines the results of many studies into one figure.

• In 2023/4, 38.4% of adults aged 16 to 74 in England with symptoms of a common mental health condition reported receiving medication for it. (survey, 2023/4 data) ⁵
• In the United States in 2019, 15.8% of adults aged eighteen and over had taken prescription medication for their mental health in the past year. (survey, past 12 months, 2019 data) ⁶
• In the United States, 17.7% of adults aged 65 and over had taken medication for their mental health in the past year, in a national survey run in 2019. (survey, past 12 months, 2019 data) ⁶
• In Australia, 21.6% of females aged sixteen to eighty-five received at least one subsidised mental health medication from a pharmacy in the previous twelve months, in survey data linked to prescription records for 2020-2022. (administrative records, past 12 months, 2020-2022 data) ⁷
• In Australia, 13.5% of males aged sixteen to eighty-five received at least one subsidised mental health medication from a pharmacy in the previous twelve months, in survey data linked to prescription records for 2020-2022. (administrative records, past 12 months, 2020-2022 data) ⁷
• In the United States in 2023, 15.3% of women aged eighteen and over took prescription medication for depression, according to the National Health Interview Survey. (survey, at one point in time, 2023 data) ¹
• In the United States in 2015-2016, 12.6% of adults aged eighteen and over reported using a benzodiazepine in the past year, in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. (survey, past 12 months, 2015-2016 data) ⁸
• In Australia in 2020-2022, 14.2% of people aged sixteen to eighty-five filled at least one subsidised antidepressant prescription in the twelve months before interview, according to dispensing records. (administrative records, past 12 months, 2020-2022 data) ³
• In Australia in 2020-2022, 33.3% of people aged sixteen to eighty-five with a mental disorder in the past twelve months filled at least one prescription for a subsidised mental health-related medicine. (administrative records, past 12 months, 2020-2022 data) ³
• In England in 2017-2018, 3% of the adult population had at least one benzodiazepine prescription dispensed, according to Public Health England. (administrative records, past 12 months, 2017-2018 data) ⁴
• In England, 36.3% of men aged 16 and over with symptoms of a common mental health condition were taking psychotropic medication, in a national survey run in 2023/4. (survey, 2023/4 data) ⁹
• Twenty-three population-based surveys of adults in Brazil, run over three decades and pooled together, found that 4.0% were using antidepressants. The surveys asked about periods from the day of interview to one year. (pooled from prevalence studies, published 2024) ¹⁰
• Across twenty-two WHO World Mental Health surveys of adults in twenty countries, 5.6% reported using an anxiolytic medicine, a medicine for anxiety, mostly a benzodiazepine, in the past twelve months. (survey, past 12 months, published 2026, fieldwork year not stated) ¹¹
• In WHO World Mental Health surveys, 2.2% of adults in low- and middle-income countries, including Nigeria, Iraq and Lebanon, reported anxiolytic use in the past year, far fewer than in high-income countries. (survey, past 12 months, published 2026, fieldwork year not stated) ¹¹
• In Japan, doctors prescribed a benzodiazepine as the only class of sleep medicine for 30.5% of outpatients aged twenty to seventy-four who newly started a sleep medicine for a diagnosis of insomnia. This was in fiscal year 2019, which runs from April to the following March, in employer insurance claims. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹²

Children and young people

There is less data on young people than on adults. Guidelines in many countries ask for more caution and closer monitoring when doctors prescribe medicines for children and teenagers.

• In Denmark, 9% of fifteen-year-olds in 2020-2022 filled a psychotropic prescription in the year around their fifteenth birthday, a share that has risen since 2002. (administrative records, 2020-2022 data) ¹³
• In the United States, 53.6% of children aged 3 to 17 with current ADHD received medication for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in 2022. (survey, 2022 data) ¹⁴

Medicine sales by country and region

These figures measure the estimated volume of medicine sold, in defined daily doses per thousand people per day, mostly from manufacturer, wholesaler and pharmacy sales data. They are volumes, not shares of people. For some countries, the figure is a modelled starting level rather than measured sales. An adjusted figure allows for other differences between the groups compared, such as income level.

• A study of ninety-one countries and regions in The Lancet Regional Health: Western Pacific estimated that pharmacy sales of psychotropic medicines reached 36.15 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day in 2022. It covers different countries from the sixty-five-country study in The Lancet Psychiatry, so the two figures cannot be read together as a trend over time. (administrative records, 2022 data) ¹⁵
• Among world regions, Northern America had the highest estimated sales of psychotropic medicines in 2019, after adjusting for income level, at 167.54 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day. Across the sixty-five countries and regions studied, some individual European countries were higher. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• In 2019, estimated sales of psychotropic medicines in the thirty-eight high-income countries among the sixty-five countries and regions studied were 123.61 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• In 2019, estimated sales of psychotropic medicines in the eight lower-middle-income countries among the sixty-five countries and regions studied were 6.77 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• In 2019, after adjusting for income level, estimated sales of psychotropic medicines were lowest in Asia, at 5.59 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• In a study of sixty-five countries and regions in The Lancet Psychiatry, Portugal had the highest estimated sales of psychotropic medicines in 2019, at 249.08 defined daily doses per thousand people a day. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• In Canada, estimated sales of psychotropic medicines were 168.10 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day in 2019. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• The Philippines had the lowest estimated sales of psychotropic medicines among sixty-five countries and regions in 2019, at 0.93 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• In the United Arab Emirates, estimated sales of psychotropic medicines were 3.97 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day in 2019, among the six lowest of sixty-five countries and regions studied. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• In China, estimated sales of psychotropic medicines were 4.57 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day in 2019. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• In South Africa, a statistical model put estimated sales of psychotropic medicines to pharmacies at 27.94 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day at the start of the 2012-2019 period. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (modelled estimate, 2012-2019 data) ¹⁵
• In Morocco, a statistical model put estimated sales of psychotropic medicines to pharmacies at 10.31 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day at the start of the 2012-2019 period. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (modelled estimate, 2012-2019 data) ¹⁵
• In Argentina, a statistical model put estimated sales of psychotropic medicines to pharmacies at 62.03 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day at the start of the 2012-2019 period. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (modelled estimate, 2012-2019 data) ¹⁵
• In Lebanon, a statistical model put estimated sales of psychotropic medicines to pharmacies at 22.88 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day at the start of the 2012-2019 period. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (modelled estimate, 2012-2019 data) ¹⁵
• Greece had the highest estimated sales of antipsychotic medicines, used mainly to treat psychosis, among sixty-five countries and regions in 2019, at 26.02 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• Within Europe, estimated sales of tranquilisers, calming medicines, were highest in Serbia in 2019, at 94.50 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day. This is sales volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2019 data) ¹⁶
• Across thirty countries of the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, mean antidepressant consumption reached 69.5 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants in 2020. A defined daily dose is the assumed average daily maintenance dose of a medicine for its main use in adults. This is a volume, not a share of people. (administrative records, 2020 data) ¹⁷

Stimulant medicines

Doctors mainly prescribe stimulants for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Most of these figures are volumes from international reporting, not shares of people; the first is a share of adults from a US survey. Lisdexamfetamine is a stimulant medicine for ADHD.

• In the United States, 71.5% of adults aged 18 and over with ADHD who took a stimulant medication reported difficulty filling the prescription in the past year because the medication was unavailable, in 2023. (survey, past 12 months, 2023 data) ¹⁸
• In 2024, the United States consumed 25.19 defined daily doses of prescription stimulants per thousand people per day, second only to Iceland among thirty-six countries, in a study in Health Affairs Scholar. The data leave out lisdexamfetamine and count volume, not people. (administrative records, 2024 data) ¹⁹
• Iceland had the highest prescription stimulant consumption of thirty-six countries in 2024, at 48.43 defined daily doses per thousand people per day. The data leave out lisdexamfetamine and count volume, not people. (administrative records, 2024 data) ¹⁹
• In 2024, the United States accounted for 67.6% of the prescription stimulant volume of thirty-six countries, far above its population share. The data leave out lisdexamfetamine, a stimulant medicine for ADHD. (administrative records, 2024 data) ¹⁹

How sales have changed

These figures describe change in the volume sold, not change in the number of people using a medicine.

• Across ninety-one countries and regions, the estimated sales volume of antidepressants to pharmacies, counted in defined daily doses, grew by an average of 5.1% a year over 2020-2022. (administrative records, 2020-2022 data) ¹⁵
• Over 2014-2019, measured from July to July, the volume of antidepressants bought per person rose by an average of 42% across twenty-five countries the UN classes as developing economies. The source counts volume in standard medicine units, where one unit is one package. (administrative records, 2014-2019 data) ²⁰
• In Mexico, the volume of antidepressants purchased per person rose by 141% over 2014-2019, measured from July to July and counted in standard medicine units. (administrative records, 2014-2019 data) ²⁰
• Over 2014-2019, measured from July to July, the volume of benzodiazepines bought per person fell by an average of 13% across thirty-three countries the UN classes as developed economies. The source counts volume in standard medicine units, where one unit is one package. (administrative records, 2014-2019 data) ²⁰

Stopping antidepressants

Studies disagree on how many people have symptoms when they stop an antidepressant. People call these discontinuation or withdrawal symptoms. The disagreement comes largely from the studies' designs. A placebo is a dummy pill with no active medicine, used for comparison. Estimates that subtract the symptoms people also report after stopping a placebo are lower than estimates that do not. Anyone thinking about stopping an antidepressant should talk it through with their prescriber first.

• The meta-analysis by Henssler and colleagues pooled seventy-nine trials and observational studies, which follow people without assigning a treatment. It estimated that about 15% of patients with a mental health condition stopping an antidepressant have discontinuation symptoms beyond those seen after stopping a placebo. (meta-analysis of studies, published 2024) ²¹
• In the meta-analysis by Henssler and colleagues, the incidence of severe discontinuation symptoms was 0.028 among study participants with a mental health condition who stopped an antidepressant, about three in every hundred. After stopping a placebo, about six in a thousand had severe symptoms. (meta-analysis of studies, published 2024) ²¹
• A reanalysis by Moncrieff and colleagues kept only five studies that measured withdrawal systematically, in a planned and consistent way, almost all after treatment of twelve weeks or less. Its pooled estimate was that 55% of people had withdrawal symptoms, before subtracting effects seen after stopping a placebo. (meta-analysis of studies, published 2025) ²²

How to read these figures

A share of people and a sales volume measure different things. Defined daily doses count an assumed average daily dose, so a high volume can reflect higher doses, longer courses or more people.

Surveys ask about different time windows, from one point in time to the past year, and prescription records count medicines dispensed, not medicines taken.

Several sales figures for individual countries are starting levels from a time-series model, a statistical model of how sales change over time. They are not annual sales figures.

Africa and the Middle East have no national survey of how many people use psychiatric medication that met our source standard; their figures here are sales volumes or multi-country survey pools.

Medication is one part of mental health care, often alongside talking therapy. These figures describe patterns across populations and are not advice about any person's treatment. Anyone thinking about starting, changing or stopping a medicine should talk it through with their prescriber.

Cite this page: TherapyRoute. Psychiatric medication statistics worldwide. https://www.therapyroute.com/article/psychiatric-medication-statistics-worldwide-by-therapyroute. Last updated 26 October 2026.

References

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