World Mental Health Day: Poverty and Mental Health in the UK

Those who experience poor mental health are more likely to be in poverty. Similarly, those in poverty are more likely to report mental health problems than those above the poverty line.

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A report for the Centre for UK Prosperity,UK Poverty Unit programme by Edward McPherson

Published 11 Oct 2022

New briefing uses the Social Metrics Commission’s poverty framework to investigate the connection between poverty and poor mental health in the UK.

The UK faces significant problems with mental health, with prevalence of depression and anxiety on an upward trend.

In the 2021 Legatum Institute Prosperity Index, the UK ranked 71st in mental health: behind comparable countries like Germany (47th) and Denmark (35th), but ahead of the United States (135th) and France (84th).

There is significant regional variation in mental health outcomes across the UK. In Blackpool, depression prevalence is almost 20%, while in Edinburgh prevalence is less than 6%.

This October 2022 briefing, in the week of World Mental Health Day, presents original analysis from the Legatum Institute using the Social Metrics Commission’s approach to poverty measurement to investigate the relationship between poverty and poor mental health in the UK.

This briefing finds that:

28% of those who report poor mental health are in poverty, compared to 16% of those who do not report poor mental health.
A quarter (25%) of all people in poverty report poor mental health. This compares to 14% of those above the poverty line

Updated on the 12th of October to include supporting data from the 2022 UK Prosperity Index.

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