Mental health disorders are associated with significant productivity losses: Economic Survey

Economic Survey 2023-24 emphasizes mental health's impact on development, productivity, and policy recommendations for the first time.

Acknowledging mental health as a principally impactful driver of individual and national development, the Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Monday extensively highlights this health issue, and its significance and implications on policy recommendations for the first time.

The Survey mentions that at an aggregate economic level, mental health disorders are associated with significant productivity losses due to absenteeism, decreased productivity, disability, increased healthcare costs, and so on. There is also evidence of poverty exacerbating the risk of mental health due to stressful living conditions, financial instability, and lack of opportunities for upward mobility, which contribute to heightened psychological distress, the Survey adds.

Alarmingly, the Survey states that, according to the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) 2015-16, 10.6% adults in India suffered from mental disorders, while the treatment gap for mental disorders ranged between 70% and 92% for different disorders. Further, the prevalence of mental morbidity was higher in urban metropolitan regions (13.5%) compared with rural areas (6.9%) and urban non-metro areas (4.3%).

Citing the National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) Mental Health and Well-being of School Students Survey, the Economic Survey highlights an increasing prevalence of poor mental health among adolescents exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 11% of students reported as feeling anxious, 14% feeling extreme emotion, and 43% experiencing mood swings.

Now recognising mental health as a fundamental aspect of overall well-being, the Survey has recommended proper implementation of healthcare programmes to accelerate improvements made in mental healthcare on the ground, and address gaps in existing programmes to maximise their effectiveness.

It has listed out key initiatives and policies taken by the government, including the National Mental Health Programme, National Tele Mental Health Programme, increasing mental health personnel, and the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram’s adolescent-friendly health clinics (AFHCs) and peer education programmes.

Other initiatives include the Central government’s efforts to raise the number of psychiatrists from 0.75 per lakh population in 2021 to the World Health Organization’s norm of three psychiatrists per lakh population.