Nearly one in five adults sought mental health support in Portugal

Depression was most prevalent among people aged 85 and over, while women were more likely than men to take medication for insomnia, anxiety and depression.

By Kate Sreenarong, in News, Health · 09 Oct 2026, 16:33 · 0 Comments

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The National Statistics Institute has revealed that nearly one in five people aged 25 to 34 sought mental health support through at least one consultation in Portugal last year.

As reported by the INE, the findings come from the National Health Survey, conducted in the fourth quarter of last year and published ahead of World Mental Health Day on Saturday, 10 October.

This survey also found that depression affected 9.8 percent of people aged 85 and over, underlining the impact of mental health conditions among the country’s oldest population.

Medication users

The regular use of medication for insomnia, anxiety and depression was consistently higher among women than men, the INE reported.

Among women, 20 percent regularly took medication for insomnia, compared with 9.1 percent of men.

The gender gap was also evident in medication for anxiety, used by 16.4 percent of women and 7.5 percent of men.

For antidepressant medication, the figures stood at 12.9 percent among women and 5.5 percent among men.

Education

The survey also identified a relationship between educational attainment and mental health literacy, with people who had completed higher education reporting greater confidence in finding relevant information.

Among those with a university degree, 88.7 percent said it was easy or very easy to learn more about activities that promote mental wellbeing, while a further 74.6 percent reported finding it easy or very easy to access information on dealing with mental health problems.

The corresponding figures for people whose education did not extend beyond basic schooling were considerably lower, at 66.3 percent and 53.5 percent, respectively.

These findings suggest that education may play an important role in helping people access information and understand how to manage mental health challenges.

The INE published the results as part of its contribution to World Mental Health Day, an annual occasion intended to raise awareness of mental health issues and encourage greater attention to psychological well-being.