Mental health has overtaken cancer and obesity as the health issue most Britons worry about, a global survey has revealed.
Experts said the change in public perception reflects the sharp rise in mental health in recent years caused by the Covid pandemic, the cost of living crisis and male violence against women. women
The trend is revealed in a survey of what the public in 31 countries around the world think about health and the healthcare they receive, carried out by Ipsos polls.
When the study began in 2018, exactly the same proportion of British participants – 50% – identified cancer, obesity and mental health as among the biggest health problems facing the country.
But mental health has moved up the rankings to become the illness that the most people (54%) in England, Scotland and Wales now say is a concern.
In comparison, obesity was only mentioned in this year’s edition of the research by 36%, while cancer was also mentioned by slightly less than before (49%), although the record numbers were diagnosed.
Global opinion has seen an even more dramatic increase in the priority people place on mental well-being. In 2018, 27% of people in the 31 countries said it was an urgent health concern. But now 45% do so – more than any other disease.
At the same time, however, the proportion of people citing cancer worldwide has fallen significantly – from 52% to 38% – while the number citing obesity has also fallen, from 33% to 26%.
Concern about cancer has decreased despite a global increase in the number of people suffering from the disease, which is linked to the aging of the population and lifestyle factors such as poor diet, smoking and alcohol intake.
The trends represent a “fundamental change in attitudes to mental health compared to 2018. Perhaps the biggest long-term effect of the pandemic on public health will be on mental health,” Ipsos said.
The picture that emerges from their findings of an increasingly anxious global population about mental health is underscored by an increase in those who see stress as a major health problem. The proportion it mentions has increased from 12% to 17% in Great Britain and from 25% to 31% worldwide.
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“Here in the UK we are seeing growing recognition of mental health as a major concern, with 54% of Brits now saying it is a pressing health issue facing the country,” said Simon Atkinson, chief of knowledge of Ipsos. Worldwide, “the pandemic still casts a long shadow,” he added.
Ipsos interviewed 23,667 people in 31 countries, including the United States, Malaysia and India, in July and August. That included a representative selection of 1,000 Britons.
Andy Bell, head of the Center for Mental Health thinktank, said the greater anxiety about wellbeing was not a surprise because “the nation’s mental health has deteriorated over the past decade, with rates of mental illness and referrals to mental health services on the rise.”
More than a million people in England are on the waiting list for NHS mental health care.
Women were much more likely than men to see mental health as a significant concern, both in Britain and globally, Ipsos found. Worldwide, 51% of women mentioned it, but only 40% of men. Likewise, young people refer more than older generations, who were more likely to cite cancer.
“Women have higher rates of poor mental health than men. Women are more likely than men to live in poverty, and male violence increases women’s risk of mental health problems,” he added. Bell.
The sharp fall of cancer in the public priority in the world is a surprise. But that may reflect the confidence that survival from many forms of the disease is increasing and that new treatments are emerging, such as immunotherapy, surgical advances and more precise types of radiation therapy.
Naser Turabi, director of evidence and implementation at Cancer Research UK, said: “Thanks to decades of research into diagnosis and treatment, cancer survival in the UK has doubled in the last 50 years. But with cancer that affecting almost one in two of us in our lifetime, it remains a definite health problem and a key concern for people across the UK.”