Is our mental health getting worse?
Short answer: Psychiatric diagnoses are the most common reason for sick leave. In December 2025, 46 per cent of all ongoing sick leave cases had a psychiatric diagnosis, compared with 30 per cent in 2005, and two in three of them were women. The share of 15-year-old girls who feel low every week has almost quadrupled since the mid 1980s, and roughly three times as many young people get a psychiatric diagnosis in specialist care as in 2008. How much of the increase is real and how much is due to more people seeking care and getting a diagnosis is disputed. More and more people collect antidepressants and ADHD medication. The number of suicides, on the other hand, has stayed roughly level at around 1,200 a year.
More on health and security: Healthcare shows healthcare waiting times region by region, The safety net explains sickness benefit and sickness compensation, and The labour market shows who has a job. Hazardous drinking, drug deaths and gambling problems are on Alcohol, drugs and gambling. Loneliness by age and lack of emotional support are on Trust and quality of life.
Psychiatric diagnoses are the most common reason for sick leave.
Ongoing sick leave cases with sickness benefit in December with a diagnosis in the chapter mental and behavioural disorders (F00 to F99), the whole country, from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency's open data (CC BY 4.0).
In December 2025 there were 85,370 ongoing sick leave cases with a psychiatric diagnosis, 59,626 among women and 25,744 among men. That was 46 per cent of all ongoing cases. In 2005 the share was 30 per cent, as large as for musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain, which have since fallen to 19 per cent.
The number fell sharply after 2008, when the rehabilitation chain with fixed time limits was introduced, and was lowest in 2009. Since then it has almost tripled, to a peak of 99,300 cases in 2024. Women are on sick leave more often than men whatever the diagnosis, but the gap is largest for psychiatric ones: half of women's sick leave cases have a psychiatric diagnosis, against four in ten of men's.
Are young people worse off, or are more of them seeking help?
Per cent of 15-year-olds who in the past six months have felt low or nervous more than once a week, from the Public Health Agency's survey Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (CC0), carried out every four years. The year is when the school year began. Data for 1989 are missing.
Patients aged 10 to 24 with at least one diagnosis in the chapter mental disorders (F00 to F99) in specialist care, per 100,000 inhabitants, from the National Board of Health and Welfare's patient register. Primary care is not included, and many people with milder complaints are treated there.
Two things have risen at the same time: how many young people say they feel bad and how many get a psychiatric diagnosis. The share of 15-year-old girls who have felt low more than once a week has risen from 14 per cent in 1985 to 54 per cent in 2021, and among boys from 5 to 25 per cent. In specialist care the number of young people with a psychiatric diagnosis per inhabitant has roughly tripled since 2008.
The Public Health Agency judges that the increase in complaints is real. In an analysis in 2018 the agency concluded that complaints among 13-year-olds and 15-year-olds had doubled since the mid 1980s, more than in the other Nordic countries. Part of the explanation is poorer school results and more stress at school, and a harder path into the labour market probably also contributes (Public Health Agency of Sweden 2018).
The National Board of Health and Welfare noted in 2017 that diagnoses of depression and anxiety among children and young people had risen sharply over ten years, and that part of the increase may be explained by greater awareness of mental ill health and more people seeking and receiving care (National Board of Health and Welfare 2017). Researchers at Linköping University have asked 15-year-olds how they interpret the survey questions. Some read feeling low or nervous as serious mental ill health, others as everyday worries, and the researchers warn against putting too much weight on the answers (Linköping University 2019).
The explanations do not rule each other out. That both survey answers and care contacts have risen suggests that part of the increase is real. That diagnoses have risen more than complaints suggests that part of it is because healthcare sees and diagnoses more people. Work, housing, crime and elections for young people are on Young people.
How quickly children get to child psychiatry depends on where they live.
Per cent of children and young people who had a first visit to child and adolescent psychiatry within 90 days, by region, latest year, from Kolada (U72552). The care guarantee is 90 days.
Per cent who started an in-depth assessment or treatment in child and adolescent psychiatry within 30 days, by region, latest year, from Kolada (U79119).
Across the country 90 per cent of children had a first visit within 90 days in 2025, but the differences between regions are large. In Västerbotten only 20 per cent did, and in Sörmland 44 per cent. 52 per cent got an in-depth assessment or treatment within 30 days, from 5 per cent in Örebro to almost everyone in Skåne.
The queues grew as more people turned to child psychiatry. The National Board of Health and Welfare reported in 2020 that the share who got a first assessment within 30 days had fallen from 90 per cent in 2015 to 62 per cent in 2018 (National Board of Health and Welfare 2020).
More and more people collect antidepressants and ADHD medication.
Patients per 1,000 inhabitants who collected the medicine at least once during the year, from the National Board of Health and Welfare's prescribed drug register. Antidepressants are ATC group N06A. ADHD medication is N06BA, which includes methylphenidate, lisdexamfetamine and atomoxetine; guanfacine has a different code and is not counted.
155 in 1,000 women and 83 in 1,000 men collected antidepressants in 2025, about half as many again as in 2006. The increase is largest among young women aged 15 to 24, where the rate has almost tripled to 119 per 1,000.
ADHD medication has risen even more: from 2 in 1,000 inhabitants in 2006 to 26 in 1,000 in 2025, and 76 in 1,000 young women. For a long time more men than women got it, but in 2025 the numbers were equal.
The number of suicides has stayed roughly level.
Suicides per 100,000 inhabitants from the National Board of Health and Welfare's cause of death register. Confirmed suicides are those where intent has been established. Including undetermined intent also counts deaths where it could not be determined whether it was an accident or a suicide.
Confirmed suicides per 100,000 inhabitants aged 15 to 24, from the National Board of Health and Welfare's cause of death register. The numbers are small and vary between years.
1,220 people took their own lives in 2025, and the number has been between 1,100 and 1,350 a year since 2006. It is almost three times as common among men as among women: 16.8 per 100,000 men and 6.2 per 100,000 women in 2025. Among young people aged 15 to 24 the rate has not risen over the same period, even though complaints and diagnoses have.
Suicide can be prevented, and most people who have thoughts of taking their own life get help and feel better. If you have such thoughts, or are worried about someone else, there is someone to talk to:
Where the figures come from.
- Swedish Social Insurance Agency, ongoing sick leave cases by diagnosis (CC BY 4.0).
- Public Health Agency of Sweden, Folkhälsodata: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, psychosomatic complaints (CC0).
- National Board of Health and Welfare, statistical database: diagnoses in specialist care, medicines and causes of death. The National Board of Health and Welfare is credited as the source.
- Kolada, waiting times in child and adolescent psychiatry (U72552, U79119).
- Public Health Agency of Sweden, Why has mental ill health increased among children and young people in Sweden? (2018); National Board of Health and Welfare, Trends in mental ill health among children and young adults (2017) and press release 2020; Linköping University, Young people's everyday problems are not always ill health (2019).
The text on suicide follows the recommendations for how suicide is described in the media and mentions no methods.