The Global Mental Health Crisis: Why Funding Still Lags—and What We Can Do Now
Behind every “mental health statistic” there’s a kitchen table, a school hallway, a factory floor. Mental health isn’t an abstract line item; it’s the quiet pulse of families, classrooms, and communities. And yet—despite soaring need—global investment remains painfully low. “We spend a sliver; we expect a miracle.” The gap we don’t like to talk about More than a billion people worldwide are living with a mental health condition. Anxiety and depression keep millions of adults awake at 3 a.m. Teens wrestle with panic, self-harm, and despair. Suicide takes hundreds of thousands of lives each year, hitting young people hardest. Still, most countries allocate around 2% of their health budgets to mental health—numbers that have barely budged in years. That mismatch has consequences you can feel: Workforce shortages: In many regions, there are fewer than two mental-health workers per 100,000 people. That means waitlists, brief visits, and burnout on both sides of the therapy room...
