Depression more prevalent among European women than men

Depression is much more prevalent in European women than men, an extensive new study has found.

New research, utilising the responses of 258,888 people who took part in the second wave of the European Health Interview Survey, collated between 2013 and 2015, found that 6.4 per cent of the European population suffers from depression - more than the 4.2 per cent World Health Organisation estimate.

The differences between the sexes in the study were stark, with 7.7 per cent of women suffering from depressive symptoms, and only 4.9 per cent of men. Only Finland and Croatia showed an equal prevalence among men and women.

A fact that surprised researchers was the large discrepancies between nations - and that depression rates were up to four times higher in more economically developed Western European nations.

"The overall prevalence is high, with the average for all the countries included being over 6 per cent," Dr. Jorge Arias-de Torre, from the Medical Psychology department at King's College London, one of the main authors of the paper, explained.

"But it is surprising that countries with greater economic development and therefore, supposedly, better health and care resources, which should reduce prevalence rates, have a higher incidence than other countries that are less economically developed."

The countries with the highest prevalence are Iceland, with 10.3 per cent of the population suffering, Luxembourg, 9.7 per cent, as well as Germany and Portugal, both with 9.2 per cent. The lowest rates were found in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with just 2.6 per cent of their population reporting depressive symptoms.

The countries with the highest proportion of men suffering a depressive disorder are Germany and Ireland, while women also had the highest rates in Germany.

Those most affected by depression are older people, those not born in the European Union, people living in densely populated areas, with chronic illnesses and little physical activity, and with lower levels of education and income.

Researchers believe that demographic, cultural and socio-political factors, such as access to health services, job insecurity or the rising cost of living, may be determining factors in the observed differences between groups.