1 Summary

“1 in 8 UK men have a mental health condition” understates current prevalence rates.

In the most recent Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023/4, 17.3% of men aged 16-64 currently experienced common mental health conditions in the last week, equivalent to approximately 1 in 6 men (15.4% or 1 in 6.5 men of all ages).

# Create summary table of current rates
summary_table <- mens_current %>%
  select(condition, total) %>%
  arrange(desc(total)) %>%
  mutate(
    `Prevalence (%)` = round(total, 1),
    `Equivalent Ratio` = paste0("1 in ", round(100/total, 1))
  ) %>%
  select(Condition = condition, `Prevalence (%)`, `Equivalent Ratio`)

kable(summary_table, 
      caption = "Table 1: Prevalence of common mental health conditions in UK men (2023/4)") %>%
  kable_styling(bootstrap_options = c("striped", "hover", "condensed"), 
                full_width = FALSE) %>%
  row_spec(which(summary_table$Condition == "Any CMHC"), bold = TRUE, background = "#E3F2FD")
Table 1: Prevalence of common mental health conditions in UK men (2023/4)
Condition Prevalence (%) Equivalent Ratio
Any CMHC 15.4 1 in 6.5
CMHC-NOS 6.4 1 in 15.6
GAD 5.7 1 in 17.5
Depressive episode 3.1 1 in 32.3
Phobias 2.3 1 in 43.5
OCD 2.2 1 in 45.5
Panic disorder 0.9 1 in 111.1

The overall prevalence of any common mental health condition among UK men is 15.4%, equivalent to approximately 1 in 6.5 men.

2 Prevalence by age

# Prepare data for age visualization
any_cmhc_current <- data.frame(
  age_group = c("16-24", "25-34", "35-44", "45-54", "55-64", "65-74", "75+"),
  prevalence = c(13.5, 20.8, 14.9, 18.4, 15.7, 11.6, 8.7)
)

# Create age distribution plot
ggplot(any_cmhc_current, aes(x = age_group, y = prevalence)) +
  geom_col(fill = "#2E86C1", alpha = 0.8, width = 0.7) +
  geom_hline(yintercept = 12.5, linetype = "dashed", color = "red", linewidth = 1) +
  geom_text(aes(label = paste0(round(prevalence, 1), "%")), 
            vjust = -0.5, size = 3.5, fontface = "bold") +
  annotate("text", x = 5.5, y = 13.5, label = "1 in 8 (12.5%)", 
           color = "red", size = 3.5, fontface = "bold") +
  labs(title = "Prevalence of Any Common Mental Health Condition by Age",
       subtitle = "UK Men, 2023/4",
       x = "Age Group (years)",
       y = "Prevalence (%)",
       caption = "Source: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023/4") +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(size = 14, face = "bold"),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(size = 12),
    axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, hjust = 1)
  ) +
  ylim(0, 22)
Figure 1: Prevalence of any common mental health condition in UK men by age group (2023/4).

Figure 1: Prevalence of any common mental health condition in UK men by age group (2023/4).

3 Trend

ggplot(historical_any_cmhc_men, aes(x = year, y = prevalence)) +
  geom_line(linewidth = 1.2, color = "#2E86C1") +
  geom_point(size = 4, color = "#2E86C1") +
  geom_hline(yintercept = 12.5, linetype = "dashed", color = "red", linewidth = 1) +
  geom_text(aes(label = paste0(prevalence, "%")), 
            vjust = -1.2, size = 3.5, fontface = "bold") +
  annotate("text", x = 2015, y = 13.2, label = "1 in 8 (12.5%)", 
           color = "red", size = 3.5, fontface = "bold") +
  labs(title = "Historical Trends: Any Common Mental Health Condition",
       subtitle = "UK Men Aged 16-64, 1993-2023",
       x = "Survey Year",
       y = "Prevalence (%)",
       caption = "Source: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys 1993-2023/4") +
  scale_x_continuous(breaks = c(1993, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2023)) +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(size = 14, face = "bold"),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(size = 12)
  ) +
  ylim(10, 19)
Figure 2: Trends in mental health prevalence among UK men aged 16-64 (1993-2023).

Figure 2: Trends in mental health prevalence among UK men aged 16-64 (1993-2023).

4 Trend by age group

ggplot(historical_by_age, aes(x = year, y = prevalence, color = age_group)) +
  geom_line(linewidth = 1.1, alpha = 0.8) +
  geom_point(size = 2.5, alpha = 0.8) +
  geom_hline(yintercept = 12.5, linetype = "dashed", color = "red", alpha = 0.7) +
  scale_color_brewer(type = "qual", palette = "Set2", name = "Age Group") +
  labs(title = "Historical Trends by Age Group: Any Common Mental Health Condition",
       subtitle = "UK Men, 1993-2023",
       x = "Survey Year",
       y = "Prevalence (%)",
       caption = "Red line shows '1 in 8' (12.5%)") +
  scale_x_continuous(breaks = c(1993, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2023)) +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(size = 14, face = "bold"),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(size = 12),
    legend.position = "bottom"
  ) +
  guides(color = guide_legend(nrow = 1)) +
  ylim(8, 22)
Figure 3: Trends in mental health prevalence among UK men by age group (1993-2023)

Figure 3: Trends in mental health prevalence among UK men by age group (1993-2023)

5 References

  1. NHS England. Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023/4: Common mental health conditions - Data tables. 2025. Available from: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey/survey-of-mental-health-and-wellbeing-england-2023-24

Report generated on 2025-08-29 using R version 4.5.1