Youth Depression
Specific Measure
We report two measures.
The narrower definition of youth depression focuses on surveys of adolescents and teenagers (age 10‒19) and uses the full set of symptoms used to clinically diagnose depression (the data do not reflect actual diagnoses).
The broader definition is the percentage of 9th‒12th graders reporting feelings of hopelessness or sadness lasting every day for 2+ weeks in a row that prevented them from doing some of their usual activities, which is only one of the multiple criteria in the narrower definition.
(Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation)
(Source: Authors' analysis of Youth Risk Behavior Survey)
(Source: Authors' analysis of Youth Risk Behavior Survey)
How does the US rank globally?
- Specific Measure: (Same as narrower definition above).
(Source: same as above)
- Percentage of countries the US outperforms: 1% (out of 112 countries)
- International Rank Trend: Worsening
National Trend Worsening
For more information about data sources and treatments, download the Data Notes.