UK Common Mental Health Conditions Rose Over 25 Years

Common mental health conditions among working-age adults in the UK rose from 17.5% in 2000 to 22.6% in 2023-24, according to NHS Digital's Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey data cited in a review published by The Conversation on 14 August 2026. The piece, part of a wider assessment of how British wellbeing has changed over 25 years, drew on contributions from academics including Kevin Stone of the University of South Wales and Sarah Vicary of the Open University. The same NHS Digital data showed conditions were most common among 16 to 24 year olds, at 26%, compared with 10% among people aged 75 and over. Separately, the review cited NHS Digital's Health Survey for England 2024, which found 26% of adults report chronic pain, with about half of those describing pain severe enough to significantly limit daily activity. The authors framed both trends as part of a longer pattern of slowing improvement in the nation's health since around 2011.

A quarter century of UK health trends

The review also noted that UK period life expectancy, a measure of how long someone born today would live at current death rates, slowed markedly after 2011 and fell sharply in 2020, when COVID-19 caused an estimated 179,000 deaths in 2020-21, the largest single-year mortality shock since the Second World War. The authors were explicit that this is a synthesis of existing official data and academic commentary rather than a new clinical study, drawing together separate NHS Digital surveys rather than reporting a single trial or intervention.

What this means for you

None of this points to a single cause or a single fix, and Perqen is not suggesting a supplement changes any of these national trends. What it does show is a longer-term rise in the proportion of UK adults managing their day-to-day wellbeing, which is part of why interest in tracking and budgeting for personal health, including through Perqen's wider health and wellness catalogue, has grown alongside it.

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Perqen members pay £4.99 a month or £29.99 a year for member pricing across the full 1,393-product catalogue. Details of how membership pricing works are on the membership page.

This article reports published news and research and is for information only. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied diet or medical care, and no product mentioned is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Speak to your GP or pharmacist before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking prescribed medicines.

Sources

• The Conversation: Britain's quarter century - experts in sex, mental health, nutrition and addiction assess the nation's changing wellbeing
• Medical Xpress republication of the same review

Originally reported by The Conversation. This article has been reviewed by Dr Tosin.