Seven out of ten South Koreans experienced mental health issues over the past year, data showed.

Among those who suffered from mental health problems, only about 30 percent sought help from hospitals or other sources.

The National Center for Mental Health, affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, published a report on the "2026 National Mental Health Knowledge and Attitude Survey." The survey was conducted by the policy research institution Kstat Consulting over two weeks starting June 12 of this year, targeting 5,100 citizens aged 15 to 69 nationwide.

According to the report, the proportion of respondents who experienced mental health issues over the past year reached 70.1 percent.

This is a slight decrease from the 2024 survey (73.6 percent).

The response of having experienced "five or more" mental health problems was the highest at 30.8 percent, and the proportion of experiencing five or more has generally been on an upward trend since 2018 (18.2 percent).

Regarding this, the report pointed out that "it clearly shows an increasing number of citizens simultaneously experiencing complex mental health problems."


Major mental health issues experienced over the one-year period (multiple responses allowed) included severe stress (47.7 percent), unexplained physical discomfort (37.5 percent), depression lasting several days (30.8 percent), insomnia lasting several days (30.6 percent), and anxiety lasting several days (30.3 percent).

Addiction issues such as gaming (18.8 percent), uncontrollable outbursts of anger such as acts of violence (16.2 percent), and serious and concrete thoughts of suicide (14.1 percent) were also notable.

Responses indicating that mental health issues caused substantial or very significant disruption to daily and family life stood at 21.5 percent, marking a sharp increase from the previous survey (15.6 percent).

The proportion of respondents who said they had consulted or discussed their issues with someone or visited a hospital when experiencing mental health problems was 30.4 percent.

Although the rate of counseling and hospital visits was the highest since the survey began, 70 percent of respondents still do not seek help, indicating a need to improve accessibility and eliminate social stigma, the report stated.

The survey was conducted online with a 95 percent confidence level and a margin of error of plus or minus 1.37 percentage points.

According to the "National Mental Health Status Report 2025," which was released alongside, the number of people receiving treatment for mental illness was tallied at 6,367 per 100,000 population last year.

The number of recipients receiving mental illness treatment per 100,000 population has been increasing every year, recording 5,520 in 2022, 5,824 in 2023, and 6,113 in 2024.

(Photo: Provided by Yonhap News TV, provided by National Center for Mental Health, Yonhap News)