Mental health by age is not one smooth rise — the GBD 2023 figures peak in adolescence before changing direction

You arrived looking at mental disorders by age because one number cannot explain every life stage.

In the GBD 2023 figures for Central Europe, the clearest pattern is a sharp rise from ages 5–9 to 15–19, followed by lower prevalence rates in later adult groups.

The figures cover both sexes and describe all mental disorders together. They show patterns across populations, rather than diagnosing one person.

One question matters as you read: does a higher age-band rate mean that every person in that group has the same experience?

No. The figures describe how common mental disorders were across a group in 2023. They cannot explain one person’s symptoms, history, or care.

The figures come from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s GBD Results database.

The comparison below keeps the age bands, rates, and counts together so the main pattern stays visible.

Before the sections open, the figures this page stands on — each one carrying its own source.

What GBD 2023 measures by age

If you are checking one age band against another, first separate three different measures in the dataset.

Prevalence counts people living with mental disorders in a population. The prevalence rate expresses that measure per 100,000 people.

New cases per year describe incidence. That figure tracks cases recorded as new during the year, with its own annual rate.

Disease burden uses DALYs. The database reports this measure separately from prevalence and incidence.

Those measures answer different questions. A group can have many people living with a disorder while its new-case rate follows another pattern.

Population size also affects totals. Larger age groups can show larger counts even when their rates sit close to another group.

That distinction protects the reader from a common mistake. A total count alone cannot tell you which age group has the highest rate.

For this page, the main comparison uses prevalence in Central Europe during 2023. It covers ages from 5–9 through 60–64.

The seven age bands provide a broad life-course view. They do not describe a single person moving through each stage.

Central Europe mental disorder prevalence by age

The reader looking for a direct answer can see the strongest change in the first three age bands.

The prevalence rate rises from 10,046 per 100,000 among ages 5–9 to 15,730 per 100,000 among ages 10–14.

It reaches 14,921 per 100,000 among ages 15–19. That teen rate remains close to the 10–14 rate in this dataset.

After adolescence, the rate falls to 13,420 per 100,000 among ages 20–24. It then moves within a narrower adult range.

Rates reach 13,701 per 100,000 for ages 25–29 and 13,997 per 100,000 for ages 30–34.

The later bands rise slightly again. Ages 35–39 record 14,188 per 100,000, while ages 40–44 record 14,239 per 100,000.

Rates continue upward in the older groups shown here. Ages 45–49 record 14,341 per 100,000, and ages 50–54 record 14,434 per 100,000.

The highest listed adult rates appear among ages 55–59 and 60–64. They reach 14,519 per 100,000 and 14,533 per 100,000.

Totals follow a different path because population sizes differ.

The 5–9 group includes about 605,000 people living with mental disorders, while the 40–44 group includes about 1.3 million.

Pick the line that matches the age you are trying to understand. The rate gives the fairer population comparison, while the count shows the estimated number of people affected.

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Why the 10–14 and 15–19 groups deserve attention

If your question centers on adolescence, the figures show a clear change from the youngest listed children.

Ages 5–9 record a prevalence rate of 10,046 per 100,000. Ages 10–14 record 15,730 per 100,000.

The number of people living with mental disorders also rises across those groups.

The database records about 605,000 people for ages 5–9 and about 995,000 for ages 10–14.

Ages 15–19 record a slightly lower rate than ages 10–14, at 14,921 per 100,000. Their estimated count reaches about 924,000.

That small change matters for interpretation. The teen years remain far above the youngest listed group by prevalence rate.

The age bands do not identify one cause for the difference. They also cannot show whether the change reflects diagnosis, symptoms, access to care, population structure, or other factors.

They record a population pattern. Your own age, symptoms, and circumstances can differ from the average pattern for the group.

The clearest reading stays modest and useful. Mental-disorder prevalence rises strongly into early and later adolescence in these Central Europe estimates, then changes within a narrower range.

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The 64% finding applies to a specific adolescent treatment group

If you arrived because the word adolescent feels personal, one separate finding needs careful boundaries.

Among substance-abusing adolescents in treatment, 64% had at least one comorbid mental disorder. Conduct disorder appeared most often.

That figure comes from a specific treatment population. It does not describe every adolescent, every country, or every mental disorder estimate in the GBD data.

The finding also measures co-occurrence. It does not show that one condition caused the other.

For the reader comparing age groups, this is a different kind of evidence.

The GBD figures describe population rates across age bands, while this study describes a selected group receiving treatment.

Both findings can matter without answering the same question. One shows how mental disorders vary by age in a region.

The other shows how often mental disorders appeared alongside substance abuse in a treatment sample.

Keep the population in view each time you read a percentage. A number becomes misleading when its group disappears.

The safest conclusion is specific. The treatment study found a large majority with a comorbid mental disorder within that adolescent sample.

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How disease burden changes across age bands

If you are comparing impact rather than the number of people living with a disorder, the burden figures add another view.

Among ages 5–9 in Western Europe, mental disorders produced about 353,000 DALYs in 2023. The rate stood at 1,520 per 100,000.

Ages 10–14 recorded about 806,000 DALYs and a rate of 3,308 per 100,000.

Ages 15–19 recorded about 1.1 million DALYs and 4,646 per 100,000.

The Western Europe burden rate then falls in the young adult groups.

Ages 20–24 recorded 3,669 per 100,000, while ages 25–29 recorded 3,393 per 100,000.

Later adult rates continue downward in the listed bands. Ages 30–34 recorded 3,234 per 100,000, and ages 35–39 recorded 3,098 per 100,000.

Ages 40–44 recorded 2,967 per 100,000. Ages 45–49 recorded 2,853 per 100,000.

The rate reached 2,762 per 100,000 for ages 50–54, 2,647 per 100,000 for ages 55–59, and 2,547 per 100,000 for ages 60–64.

These burden figures cover Western Europe, while the detailed prevalence comparison covers Central Europe. The regions should stay separate in your reading.

The burden pattern therefore gives context, rather than a replacement for the prevalence pattern. Each measure describes a different part of the age picture.

Notice the region label beside each number. Matching the age band without matching the region would create a false comparison.

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What new cases per year add to the age picture

If the reader wants to know where new cases appear most often, incidence provides a separate line of evidence.

In Central Europe and Central Asia, ages 5–9 recorded about 707,000 new cases per year in 2023. The annual incidence rate was 2,606 per 100,000.

Ages 10–14 recorded about 1.3 million new cases and 4,807 per 100,000. Ages 15–19 recorded about 1.5 million and 5,925 per 100,000.

The annual incidence rate reached 5,089 per 100,000 for ages 20–24. It then declined to 4,742 per 100,000 for ages 25–29.

Rates moved through the adult bands after that. Ages 30–34 recorded 4,696 per 100,000, while ages 35–39 recorded 4,726 per 100,000.

Ages 40–44 recorded 4,748 per 100,000. Ages 45–49 recorded 4,766 per 100,000.

The listed rate reached 4,890 per 100,000 for ages 50–54, 4,992 per 100,000 for ages 55–59, and 5,237 per 100,000 for ages 60–64.

Those figures do not mean that every new case lasts the same length of time.

They also do not replace prevalence, which counts people living with disorders at the measured point.

For your original age question, incidence shows that new-case patterns can differ from the prevalence pattern. Reading both prevents a single measure from carrying too much weight.

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What these age bands can and cannot tell you

If you are trying to place your own experience inside the chart, the age band can offer context without offering a personal conclusion.

Population estimates describe groups. They cannot confirm a diagnosis for one person.

The word all also matters. The cited GBD figures combine mental disorders rather than showing one condition at a time.

A combined rate can hide differences between conditions. It can also hide differences within the same age band.

Both-sex estimates provide an overall population view. They do not show how the figures divide by sex.

The year matters as well. These cited estimates refer to 2023.

Regional labels matter just as much. Central Europe, Western Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia are separate geographic groupings in the cited figures.

Small changes between nearby adult rates should receive careful reading.

A difference between 13,997 per 100,000 and 14,188 per 100,000 describes two estimates, not a sharp personal boundary.

The same care applies to large totals. About 1.3 million people in one age group does not mean that group has the highest rate.

Use the chart to understand the shape. Keep personal questions separate from the population evidence.

The answers beside the questions keep the definitions, age bands, regions, and study populations from blending together.

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The direct answer for mental disorders by age

If you came here looking for the shortest clear answer, the GBD 2023 pattern rises from childhood into adolescence, then settles into a narrower adult range.

In Central Europe, ages 5–9 recorded 10,046 per 100,000. Ages 10–14 recorded 15,730 per 100,000.

Ages 15–19 recorded 14,921 per 100,000. The rate then stayed near the low-to-mid 13,000s through ages 20–39.

Later adult rates moved upward within the cited Central Europe figures, reaching 14,533 per 100,000 among ages 60–64.

That answer holds for the population, region, year, sex grouping, and combined disorder category measured here.

It does not turn an age band into a personal label. The reader’s own experience needs its own evidence and context.

The separate treatment study adds one focused point about adolescents with substance abuse. Within that selected group, 64% had at least one comorbid mental disorder.

Read that finding within its sample, and read the GBD estimates within their geographic and age limits.

For understanding mental disorders by age, the strongest lesson is the shape of the data.

Childhood rates are lower, adolescence stands out, and later adult rates remain substantial while following a different pattern.

This is general information about the mind, not therapy or a diagnosis. If things feel hard, please consult a professional. In a crisis, reach a free, confidential crisis hotline right away; findahelpline.com lists one for your country.