How common is Depression?

In general, the prevalence of major depression is 3-5.8%. The annual prevalence is given as 2.6-6.2%. Lifetime risk is 3-12% for men an...

In general, the prevalence of major depression is 3-5.8%. The annual prevalence is given as 2.6-6.2%. Lifetime risk is 3-12% for men and 10-26% for women. Different ratios are given according to different researches, but all ratios are close to this. Epidemiological data suggest that 13% of women and 8% of men are depressed at any given year. The 12-month depressive seizure prevalence in the National Mental Health Profile Study is 5.4% for women, 2.3% for men and 4.0% for all population. As you can see it's twice as much in women. Repetitive depressions are more frequent in women. About 15% of acute episodes have a tendency of continuing depression.