TAI Statistics: Anxiety Disorders Affect Estonian Women Twice as Often as Men

The 2025 psychiatric service statistics from the Health Development Institute show that psychiatrists registered over 97,000 mental and behavioural disorder cases at outpatient appointments. Anxiety disorders, stress reactions, and depression affect women significantly more often than men. Among children, boys are overrepresented, with diagnoses of hyperactivity and attention disorders.

The Health Development Institute (HDI) released its 2025 psychiatric service statistics, clearly highlighting gender differences in mental health issues in Estonia.

Over 97,000 cases annually

Psychiatrists registered over 97,000 mental and behavioural disorder cases at outpatient appointments in 2025. Compared to 2024, this figure is 2 per cent lower, but experts emphasise that the actual need for psychiatric care has not decreased. The decline reflects changes in how services are organised rather than improvements in public health.

The most common diagnoses over the years remain consistently anxiety disorders, severe stress reactions and adjustment disorders, and mood disorders including depression, all affecting women twice as often as men.

Number of first-time cases rises

Notably, as many as 31 per cent of all cases were experienced by patients for the first time. In 2025, more than 30,000 new mental or behavioural disorder cases were diagnosed, 2 per cent more than the previous year. The growth in first-time cases suggests that an increasing number of people are seeking medical help for mental health problems.

More hyperactivity disorders in boys

One in ten of all psychiatrist patients were children under 15 years old. In this age group, boys outnumbered girls by two to one, and the number of mental and behavioural disorders increased by 1 per cent compared to the previous year.

The growth is primarily driven by increased diagnosis of hyperkinetic disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in boys. This is the most common diagnosis in this age group: first-time cases were registered at just under 9,000 boys under 15 and roughly 4,000 girls in the same age group.

Support network expands

To ease the burden on psychiatrists, Estonia has expanded mental health support services. Clinical psychologists are now officially recognised as healthcare workers and can provide care both with health insurance funding and as independent service providers.

The health insurance fund has also increased the involvement of mental health nurses in primary care practices, and the use of e-consultations has grown significantly. These changes allow psychiatrists to focus particularly on patients with the greatest treatment needs.