Mental health has overtaken cancer and obesity as the health problem most worried about by Britons, a global survey has revealed.
Experts said the shift in public perception reflects the sharp rise in mental illness in recent years caused by the Covid pandemic, the cost of living crisis and male violence against 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, undertaken by pollsters Ipsos.
When the study began in 2018, exactly the same proportion of UK participants – 50% – identified cancer, obesity and mental health as one of the biggest health problems facing the country.
But mental health has moved up the rankings to become the illness that most people (54%) in England, Scotland and Wales now say is a concern.
In comparison, obesity was only mentioned by 36% in this year’s edition of the research, while cancer was also cited by slightly less than before (49%), despite record numbers being diagnosed.
Opinion worldwide has seen an even more dramatic increase in the priority people give to mental well-being. In 2018, 27% of people in the 31 countries said it was an urgent health concern. But now 45% do – more than any other disease.
Over the same time, however, the percentage of people who mention cancer worldwide has fallen markedly – from 52% to 38% – while the number who mention obesity is also down, from 33% to 26%.
Cancer concerns have fallen despite a global rise in the number of people who get the disease, which is linked to the aging of the population and to lifestyle factors such as poor diet, smoking and alcohol intake.
The trends represent a “fundamental shift in attitudes towards mental health compared to 2018. Perhaps the pandemic’s biggest long-term public health effect will be on mental health,” Ipsos said.
The picture that emerges from his findings of a world population increasingly anxious about mental illness is underscored by an increase in those who view stress as a major health problem. The proportion it mentions has risen from 12% to 17% in Britain and from 25% to 31% worldwide.
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“Here in the UK, we are seeing increasing recognition of mental health as a major concern, with 54% of Brits now saying it is an urgent health issue facing the country,” said Simon Atkinson, Ipsos’ Chief Insights Officer . Globally, the pandemic “still casts a long shadow”, he added.
In July and August, Ipsos interviewed 23,667 people in 31 countries, including the US, Malaysia and India. It included a representative sample of 1,000 Britons.
Andy Bell, the chief executive of the Center for Mental Health think tank, said the increased anxiety about wellbeing was not a surprise as “the country’s mental health has deteriorated over the past decade, with rates of mental illness and referrals to mental health services rising”.
More than a million people in England are on a waiting list for NHS mental health care.
Women were far more likely than men to see mental health as a significant concern, both in Britain and globally, Ipsos found. Globally, 51% of women mentioned it, but only 40% of men. Similarly, younger people referred to it more than older generations, who were more likely to mention cancer.
“Women have higher rates of mental illness than men. “Women are more likely than men to live in poverty, and male violence increases too many women’s risk of mental health problems,” Bell added.
Cancer’s sharp drop in public priority worldwide is a surprise. But it may reflect 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 radiotherapy.
Naser Turabi, Cancer Research UK’s director of evidence and implementation, said: “Thanks to decades of research into diagnosis and treatment, cancer survival in the UK has doubled over the past 50 years. But with cancer affecting almost one in two of us in our lifetime, it remains a defining health issue and a major concern for people across the UK.
