KEY FINDINGS FROM NATIONAL STUDY OF MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING

*The survey of 5500 people between the ages of 16 to 85 revealed the extent of mental ill-health in Australia. Results were converted into estimates for the rest of the population.

*It's the first time in 15 years a study of this kind has been undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

*The ABS recognised having - or not having - mental ill-health does not define a person.

NATIONAL STATISTICS

*One-in-six Australians have experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviours in their lifetime.

*Almost two-in-five people had a been close to someone who had died by or attempted suicide.

*More than two-in-five Australians have experienced a mental disorder in their lifetime.

*Just under nine per cent of Australians had ever self harmed in their lifetime.

*In 2020/21 one-in-five people experienced a mental disorder.

*Anxiety was the most common group of mental disorders.

*This was followed by 7.5 per cent of Australians who had an affective disorder.

*Depression was the most common affective disorder.

*People who had experienced homelessness or insecure housing at some time in their life were more likely to have had an affective disorder like depression than people who had not.

*Nearly 45 per cent of people in the LGBTQI community experienced anxiety and three in 10 reported an experience with affective disorder such as depression.

YOUNG PEOPLE

*Almost two-in-five people aged 16 to 24 experienced a mental disorder in 2020/21.

*Almost half of young women had a mental health disorder in that time period compared to just under a third of young men.

*Anxiety disorders were the most common among young people.

SUBSTANCE USE

*Just over three per cent of Australians had experienced a substance use disorder in their lifetime.

*Males were almost twice as likely as females to have had a 12-month substance use disorder.

*Harmful alcohol use was more common among men than women.

DISORDERED EATING

*One-in-20 people had experienced binge eating in their lifetime.

* Women were more than twice as likely as men to have experienced binge eating.

*More than one-in-five people rated their weight or shape as being very important to how they thought about themselves as a person.

SEEKING HELP

*Around one-in-four people aged 16 to 34 years saw a health professional for their mental health, compared with 16.8 per cent of people aged 35 to 64 years and 7.5 per cent of people aged 65 to 85 years.

*More than half of all females saw a professional for their mental health, compared with 37 per cent of all males.

*In 2020/21 more than 15 per cent of people reported feeling lonely in the previous four weeks.

*Three-in-five people took actions to help manage their mental health such as increasing their level of exercise or physical activity.

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