Stress and mental disorders

How many are suffering from stress and how many have mental disorders in Denmark? How is the mental health of the population?

Note: Below, we provide links to Statistics Denmark and others who make statistics on the subject. In some instances, the sources referred to below have content in Danish only or limited content in English.

Stress

In connection with Statistics Denmark’s survey in 2015 on quality of life, we asked the participants how often they felt stressed.

• Their replies can be broken down by e.g. area, sex, age, income and education in StatBank Denmark tables dealing with ”Quality of life by everyday life”.

"Den Nationale Sundhedsprofil 2021” is a national health profile (in Danish), which includes information on stress – with data for 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2021:

• The results of the survey are available in a database and as a publication.

Every two years, the National Research Centre for the Working Environment makes surveys on working environment and occupational health, which also cover mental health issues – such as stress:

• See facts from the surveys on Arbejdsmiljø og Helbred i Danmark - at the latest in 2018.

The Rockwool Foundation Research Unit: 

• The publication ”Hvordan bruger danskerne tiden?” (2018) (in Danish) includes a section on stress.

National Institute of Public Health: 

• The report "Sundhed og sygelighed i Danmark 2010 - og udviklingen siden 1987" (2012) (in Danish) is about sickness and health in Denmark and includes a section on stress.

Mental disorders

Psykiatrifonden is the Danish mental health fund and provides general figures for the incidence of mental illness in the population:

• See their website with incidence (in Danish), which includes source references.

At the request of the Danish Health Authority, the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has carried out a major study of the burden of disease in Denmark. 

• "Sygdomsbyrden i Danmark - Sygdomme" (2023) (in Danish). The study compares e.g. depression, anxiety and schizophrenia in terms of various parameters such as incidence, mortality, treatment, sickness absence, disability pension, etc. 

The Danish Health Data Authority has key figures about the healthcare sector: 

• Data on patients and admissions to psychiatric hospitals is available in The Danish Health Data Authority’s databank – eSundhed (in Danish).

The Danish Health Data Authority is responsible for the register of medicines statistics, Lægemiddelstatistikregisteret (in Danish), which holds information on all sales of medicines in Denmark. 

• The register is used for e.g. analyses of the consumption of ADHD medicine, antidepressants and anti-psychotics (in Danish)

Stress, mental disorders and mental health of children and young people

Børns Vilkår og TrygFonden:

• The report "Krop, køn og digital adfærd : hvordan mindsker vi presset på børn og unge?" (2020) (in Danish) contains a section about children and young people's experiences of pressure and stress in everyday life.

The Danish Health Data Authority:

• In their report "Prævalens, incidens og aktivitet i sundhedsvæsenet for børn og unge med angst eller depression, ADHD og spiseforstyrrelse" (2018) (in Danish), the Health Data Authority has collected data on the prevalence, incidence and activity in the healthcare sector for children and young people suffering from anxiety, depression, ADHD or eating disorders.

Vidensråd for Forebyggelse (Danish knowledge council for prevention):  

• The report "Mental sundhed og psykisk sygdom hos 0-9-årige børn" (2021) (in Danish) maps e.g. the prevalence and distribution of mental health issues and mental illness among 0-9-year-old children.

• The report "Mental sundhed og sygdom hos børn og unge i alderen 10-24 år" (2020) (in Danish) has data on children and young people with ADHD, autism spectrum disorders (AFS), anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), Tourette’s syndrome, behavioural disorders, eating disorders and psychoses in the schizophrenic spectrum. The report incude a section on the occurrence of stress in the age group.

The Danish Health Authority:

• "Stress blandt unge" (2007) (in Danish) presents the results of the first survey on stress among pupils in the final years of secondary school.
   
  [This page was last reviewed in October 2022]