France has the highest levels of depression in Europe. How does it compare with other countries?
France may have had the highest pre-pandemic depression level among European countries, according to a new analysis of a 2019 health survey across the continent.
The analysis from the statistical arm of France’s health and social ministries (DREES) found that the depression rate in France was around 11 per cent pre-pandemic, which was the highest of any other European country.
The report was based on data from the European Health Interview Survey, which is carried out every six years, and included some 300,000 people across the European Union, Norway, Iceland, and Serbia.
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This was the first time the DREES used the 2019 survey to measure depression and the prevalence was estimated based on eight questions from the Patient Health Questionnaire.
The analysis looked at "whether or not a person had suffered from depressive syndromes over the last two weeks based on a series of criteria," Lisa Troy, the study’s author from the directorate’s research and international studies department, told Euronews Health.
It comes as multiple studies have pointed to a growing mental health crisis in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among young people in France and other European countries.
The new DREES report also focused on young people aged 15 to 24 and older people aged 70 and up.
Jocelyne Caboche, emeritus research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research’s (CNRS) Neuroscience Sorbonne University lab (Neuro-SU), told Euronews Health that while she did not have an explanation for France seeing a "relatively" higher level of depression compared to other countries, it could be due an "accumulation of elements".
"While we are relatively well taken care of in terms of health and education, there still needs to be significant efforts made in caring for the elderly," said Caboche, who was not involved in the study.
She added that depression could improve with better investment in psychiatry and therapeutic innovation.
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What factors contribute to depression in European countries?
Overall, the new analysis showed that the highest depression levels were in northern and western European countries.
But while depression is rare among younger people in southern and eastern European countries, it is higher among people aged 70 and older in those countries, the report found.
Depression rates were over 15 per cent among older individuals in Portugal, Romania, and Croatia, for instance.
Older women were also more depressed than older men, according to the survey data, and older Europeans in poor health were more prone to depression.
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With more older Europeans reporting poor health in eastern and southern European countries, this could explain the higher prevalence of depression there, the report’s authors said.
"For example, in Croatia or Latvia, where nearly 40 per cent of seniors report poor health, the prevalence of depression is high: 16 per cent and 9 per cent respectively," the report authors noted.
Being socially isolated and widowed also appeared to impact depression among older individuals.
For younger Europeans, the highest rates of depression were in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, followed by western European countries. Depression among young people was lower in eastern and southern European countries.
"I was impressed by the differences between depression rates among young people and older people in southeastern [European] countries and inversely by the idea that young people were very depressed in [northern European countries] and that it’s the only region where among older people, depression decreased by age," Troy said.
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In countries with higher rates of depression among young people, it was linked to social isolation, not having a professional activity or going to school, and income level.
Caboche added that social media can also play a role "by promoting harmful social comparisons, concerns around body image particularly among girls, reducing the duration of sleep, and increasing the risks of cyber-harassment".
Poor health among young people also significantly raised the risk of depression by some 32 percentage points, the report found.
It added that the EHIS data may have limitations including differences in questionnaire methods on mental health issues between countries.
