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A new World Health Organization (WHO) study, published on July 25 in the journal of BMC medicine, suggests that depression is more common in affluent nations and argues that cases of major depression are on the rise throughout the world.
The study was a result of a nine category survey taken by the organization that interviewed nationally representative samples of people in 18 countries across the globe. Overall, the survey reached nearly 90,000 people.
To be able to compare the data by socioeconomic indicators, the survey divided countries into categories of high-income and low-to-middle-income, based upon World Bank classifications.
The study concluded that 15 percent of people in high income countries were likely to face a episode of depression in their lifetime, whereas 11 percent of people in low income countries would also face the same reality once in their lifetime.
Findings of the survey conclude that France (21 percent) and the United States (19.2 percent) had the highest instances of people that faced clinical depression once in their lifetime, while lower-income countries such as China (6.5 percent) and Mexico (8 percent) had the lowest incidences of depression.
In fact, four of the five countries that topped the list where high income countries: France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States.
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Brazil was the only country in the low-to-middle-income category that made the top five.
The study also finds an important gender disparity with regards to depression, as women have a twofold increased risk of having major depressive episodes.
Researchers suggest that although people in higher-income countries on average make more money, factors such as income inequality; which is larger in higher income countries, and stress, are not taken into consideration in the study and can serve as reasons behind the phenomenon of higher levels of depression in wealthy nations.
Other factors persist with regard to the income depression divide.
Timothy Classen, an assistant professor of economics at Loyola University Chicago that has extensively researched the link between suicide and economics told CNN that, "There are significant disparities across countries in terms of the availability of social acceptance of mental health care for depression."
Social stigma and lack of medical support for depression can place countries lower on the depression indicator list, even though their population is suffering from depression.
The study concludes that depression is a severe global problem that is only getting worse. It ranks depression as the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide and projects that by 2020 it will be the second leading cause of disability.
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