A new World Health Organization (WHO) study, published on July 25 in the journal of BMC medicine, suggests that depression is more common in affluent nations and argues that cases of major depression are on the rise throughout the world.
The study was a result of a nine category survey taken by the organization that interviewed nationally representative samples of people in 18 countries across the globe. Overall, the survey reached nearly 90,000 people.
To be able to compare the data by socioeconomic indicators, the survey divided countries into categories of high-income and low-to-middle-income, based upon World Bank classifications.
The study concluded that 15 percent of people in high income countries were likely to face a episode of depression in their lifetime, whereas 11 percent of people in low income countries would also face the same reality once in their lifetime.
Findings of the survey conclude that France (21 percent) and the United States (19.2 percent) had the highest instances of people that faced clinical depression once in their lifetime, while lower-income countries such as China (6.5 percent) and Mexico (8 percent) had the lowest incidences of depression.
In fact, four of the five countries that topped the list where high income countries: France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States.