Prevalence and Incidence
- 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime. The remaining 4 will have a friend, family member or
colleague who will.i
- Mental illness affects thinking, mood or behaviour and can be associated with distress and/or impairment of functioning, with
symptoms that vary from mild to severe.
- About 20% of people with a mental disorder have a co-occurring substance use problem.ii
- Schizophrenia affects 1%, major depression impacts 8% and anxiety disorder 12% of people.iii
- 1 in 10 Canadians 15 years of age and over report symptoms consistent with alcohol or illicit drug dependence.iv
- 3.8% of adults in Ontario are classified as having moderate or severe gambling problems.v
Who is Affected
- 70% of mental health problems and illnesses have their onset during childhood or adolescence.vi
- Young people age 15-24 are more likely to report mental illness and/or substance use disorders than other age groups.vii
- Overall, men were 2.6 times more likely than women to meet the criteria for substance dependence.viii 25% of male drinkers are high-risk drinkers compared to 9% of female drinkers.ix
- Women were 1.5 times more likely to meet the criteria for a mood or anxiety disorder than men.x
- Canadians in the lowest income group were 3-4 times more likely than those in the highest income group to report fair to poor
mental health.xi
Access
- Only one-third of those who need mental health services in Canada actually receive them.xii
- 71% of family physicians ranked access to psychiatrists in Ontario as fair to poor.xiii
- While mental illnesses constitute more than 15% of the burden of disease in Canada, these illnesses receive only 5.5% of health
care dollars.xiv
Stigma
- Just 50% of Canadians would tell friends or coworkers that they have a family member with a mental illness, compared to 72%
who would discuss diagnoses of cancer or 68% diabetes in the family.xv
- Only 12% of Canadians said they would hire a lawyer who has a mental illness, and only 49% said they would socialize with
a friend who had a serious mental illness.xvi
- 46% of Canadians think people use the term mental illness as an excuse for bad behaviour; and 27% are fearful of being around
people who suffer from serious mental illness.xvii
Cost to Society of Mental Illness and Addictions
- In Canada mental illness is the second leading cause of human disability and premature death.xviii
On any given week, at least 500,000 employed Canadians are unable to work due to mental illness, including approximately 355,000
disability cases due to mental and/or behavioural disordersxix plus approximately 175,000 full-time workers absent from work due to mental health issues.xx
- Mental Health is the number one cause of disability in Canada, accounting for nearly 30% of disability claims and 70% of the
total costs.xxi
- Tobacco is responsible for one-quarter of cancer deaths in Ontario.xxii
- $51 billion is the estimated cost of mental illness to the Canadian economy in terms of health care and lost productivity.xxiii
- $34 billion is the cost of mental illness and addictions to the Ontario economy.xxiv
- According to the World Health Organization, depression will be the single biggest medical burden on health by 2020.
i Health Canada. A Report on Mental Illness in Canada, 2002.
ii Prevalence of Co-occurring Substance Use and Other Mental Disorders in the Canadian Population, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry,
December 2008
iii Health Canada: A Report on Mental Illness in Canada, 2002
iv Statistics Canada: Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-being, 2003
v CCSA and Responsible Gambling Council, 2001
vi Government of Canada, The Human Face of Mental Health and Mental Illness in Canada, 2006
vii Statistics Canada: Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-being, 2003
viii Statistics Canada: Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-being, 2002
ix CCSA Canadian Addictions Survey, November 2004
x Statistics Canada: Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-being, 2002
xi Statistics Canada: Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-being, 2002
xii Statistics Canada: Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-being, 2003
xiii National Physician Survey, 2007
xiv Institute of Health Economics, How Much Should We Spend on Mental Health?, September 2008
xv Canadian Medical Association, 8th Annual National Report Card on Health Care, August 2008
xvi Canadian Medical Association, 8th Annual National Report Card on Health Care, August 2008
xvii Canadian Medical Association, 8th Annual National Report Card on Health Care, August 2008
xiii Examining the Comparative Incidence and Costs of Physical and Mental Health-Related Disabilities in an Employed Population.
Carolyn S. Dewa, Nancy Chau, and Stanley Dermer. Journal for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Volume 52, Number 7,
July 2010.
xix Calculated from Statistics Canada – Labour Statistics Division. Work Absence Rates 2010; 20% of sick leaves in Canada
are related to mental health (Institute of Health Economics, Mental Health Economics Statistics in Your Pocket, Revised 2007).
xx Institute of Health Economics, How Much Should We Spend on Mental Health?, September 2008
xxi Insurance Journal 2003 as cited by the Government of Canada in The Human Face of Mental Health and Mental Illness in Canada,
2006, pg. 41.
xxii Cancer Care Ontario Tobacco Facts
xxiii Dewa, CS et al, A new population-based measure of the burden of mental illness in Canada, Chronic Diseases in Canada,
2008
xxiv The Economic Costs of Mental Disorders, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drug Abuse in Ontario, 2000