Mental Illness and Addiction: Facts and Statistics

Learn more about mental illness and substance use disorders here. 

Prevalence

• In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness.¹
• By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have – or have had – a mental illness.²

Who is affected?

• Young people aged 15 to 24 are more likely to experience mental illness and/or substance use disorders than any other age group.³
• 39% of Ontario high-school students indicate a moderate-to-serious level of psychological distress (symptoms of anxiety and depression). A further 17% indicate a serious level of psychological distress.⁴
• Men have higher rates of substance use disorders than women, while women have higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders.⁵
• Mental and physical health are linked. People with a long-term physical health condition such as chronic pain are much more likely to also experience mood disorders. Conversely, people with a mood disorder are at much higher risk of developing a long-term medical condition.⁶
• People with a mental illness are twice as likely to have a substance use disorder compared to the general population. At least 20% of people with a mental illness have a co-occurring substance use disorder.⁷ For people with schizophrenia, the number may be as high as 50%.⁸
• Similarly, people with substance use disorders are up to 3 times more likely to have a mental illness. More than 15% of people with a substance use disorder have a co-occurring mental illness.⁹
• Canadians in the lowest income group are 3 to 4 times more likely than those in the highest income group to report poor to fair mental health.¹⁰
• Studies in various Canadian cities have indicated that between 23% and 67% of homeless people may have a mental illness.¹¹

Morbidity and mortality

• Mental illness and substance use disorders are leading causes of disability in Canada.¹²
• People with mental illness and substance use disorders are more likely to die prematurely than the general population. Mental illness can cut 10 to 20 years from a person’s life expectancy.¹³
• The disease burden of mental illness and substance use in Ontario is 1.5 times higher than all cancers put together and more than 7 times that of all infectious diseases. This includes years lived with less than full function and years lost to early death.¹⁴
• It is estimated that 67,000 deaths per year are attributable to substance use in Canada. This includes:¹⁵
• over 47,000 deaths attributable to tobacco, and
• nearly 15,000 deaths attributable to alcohol.
• There were an estimated 14,700 opioid-related deaths in Canada between January 2016 and September 2019.¹⁶

Suicide

• About 4,000 Canadians per year die by suicide – an average of almost 11 suicides a day.¹⁷ It affects people of all ages and backgrounds.
• On a per-capita basis, suicide rates in Canada are on a downward trend. They peaked in 1983 at 15.1 deaths per 100,000 people (compared to 10.3 per 100,000 in 2018 – the latest year for which data are available).^{18, 19}
• In Ontario about 4% of adults and 14% of high-school students report having seriously contemplated suicide in the past year. 4% of high-school students report having attempted suicide.^{20, 21}
• More than 75% of suicides involve men, but women attempt suicide 3 to 4 times more often.²²
• More than half of suicides involve people aged 45 or older.²³
• In 2018, suicide accounted for 21% of deaths among children aged 10 to 14, 29% among youth aged 15 to 19, and 24% among young adults aged 20-24.²⁴
• After accidents, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 24.²⁵
• In 2018, suicide was the leading cause of death for children aged 10 to 14.²⁶
• Indigenous people, especially youth, die by suicide at rates much higher than non-Indigenous people. First Nations youth aged 15 to 24 die by suicide about 6 times more often than non-Indigenous youth. Suicide rates for Inuit youth are about 24 times the national average.²⁷

Stigma

• In a 2019 survey of working Canadians: ²⁸
• 75% of respondents said they would be reluctant – or would refuse – to disclose a mental illness to an employer or co-worker.
• Respondents were nearly 3 times less likely to want to disclose a mental illness like depression than a physical one like cancer.
• Top reasons for this reluctance were:
• the belief that there is stigma around mental illness,
• not wanting to be treated differently or judged, and
• being afraid of negative consequences, such as losing one’s job.
• However, 76% of respondents stated that they themselves would be completely comfortable with and supportive of a colleague with a mental illness.

Access to services

• Wait times can be long in Ontario, especially for children and youth: ²⁹
• About 28,000 children and youth were on waiting lists for mental health treatment in January 2020. This number has more than doubled since 2017.
• Average wait times for children and youth are 67 days for counselling and therapy and 92 days for intensive treatment.
• Access to these services differs based on geographical area; in some areas, children and youth are able to access services almost immediately, while in others, wait times can be up to 2.5 years.
• Mental illness and substance use disorders account for between 11% and 15% of Ontario’s disease burden, as measured in disability-adjusted life years.³⁰ However, it only receives about 7% of health care dollars.³¹
• The Mental Health Strategy for Canada recommends raising the proportion of health spending that is devoted to mental health to 9% by 2022.³² In Ontario, that would mean raising mental health spending to approximately $5.7 billion.³³

Costs to society

• The annual economic cost of mental illness in Canada is estimated at over $50 billion per year. This includes health care costs, lost productivity, and reductions in health-related quality of life.^{34, 35}
• The annual economic cost of substance use in Canada is estimated at nearly $40 billion. This includes costs related to healthcare, criminal justice, and lost productivity.³⁶
• Alcohol and tobacco are responsible for more than two thirds of these costs ($14.6 billion and $12 billion, respectively).
• The next highest ranked substances are opioids ($3.5 billion) and cannabis ($2.8 billion).
• Individuals with a mental illness are much less likely to be employed.³⁷ Unemployment rates are as high as 70% to 90% for people with the most severe mental illnesses.³⁸
• The cost of a workplace disability leave for a mental illness is about double the cost of a leave due to a physical illness.³⁹
• Investing in mental health has been shown to produce net cost benefits. Positive return on investment has been demonstrated for
• health promotion and illness prevention programs,⁴⁰
• early intervention aimed at children and families,⁴¹
• scaled-up treatment for depression and anxiety disorders,⁴² and 
• workplace mental health programs.⁴³