Promoting, protecting, and caring for children’s mental health
Children around the world have been locked out of classrooms, sequestered in their homes, and robbed of the everyday joy of playing with friends – all consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions more families have been pushed into poverty, unable to make ends meet. Child labor, abuse, and gender-based violence are on the rise. Many children are filled with sadness, hurt, or anxiety. Some are wondering where this world is headed and what their place is in it. Indeed, these are very challenging times for children and young people, and this is the state of their world in 2021.
• It is estimated that more than 13 percent of adolescents aged 10–19 live with a diagnosed mental disorder as defined by the World Health Organization.
• This represents 86 million adolescents aged 15–19 and 80 million adolescents aged 10–14.
• 89 million adolescent boys aged 10–19 and 77 million adolescent girls aged 10–19 live with a mental disorder.
• Prevalence rates of diagnosed disorders are highest in the Middle East and North Africa, North America, and Western Europe regions.
• Anxiety and depression make up about 40 percent of these diagnosed mental disorders; the others include attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, intellectual disability, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, autism, schizophrenia and a group of
personality disorders.
• An estimated 45,800
adolescents die from suicide each year, or more than 1 person every 11 minutes.
• Suicide is the fifth most prevalent cause of death for adolescent boys and girls aged 10–19; for adolescents 15–19, it is the fourth most common cause of death, after road injury, tuberculosis, and interpersonal violence. For girls aged 15–19, it is the third most common cause of death and the fourth for boys in this age group.
