While at number 24 Mexico ranks fairly high on the U.N. World Happiness Report, a report by a venerable public hospital in Guadalajara has found that about 10 percent of the country’s population suffers from some form of depression.
This is five percent more than the world average.
Of prime importance among many factors influencing this statistic, according to Antiguo Hospital Civil de Guadalajara Director Hector Raul Perez Gomez, especially in a country where 50 percent of citizens are considered poor, is the question of poverty, and the concomitant questions of employment and education.
Pointing out another possible factor in the country’s higher-than-average occurrence of depression was Teresita Villaseñor Cabrera, coordinator of the aforementioned hospital’s psychology service.
With an average of 12 mental health professionals for every 100,000 people, she reported, Mexico’s population has much few psychologists at its disposal than, say, Argentina, which counts 121 for every 100,000.