Antidepressants: Young People
(asked on 10th February 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of all people in England between the ages of 18 and 24 were prescribed anti-depressants in each year since 2015.
The NHS Business Services Authority publishes statistics for anti-depressants prescribed in England that are then dispensed in the community in England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands. The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates of population. Data for 18 to 24 year-olds specifically is not published, but data for 15 to 24 year-olds is available. The following table shows the total number of male and female patients aged 15 to 24 years-old prescribed antidepressants, British National Formulary section 0403, and that number as a percentage of the estimated mid-year population, in the first financial quarter of each year from 2015 to 2023:
Mid-year population year | Financial quarter | Identified patients | Mid-year population estimate | Percentage |
2015 | 2015/16 Q1 | 240,392 | 6,838,939 | 3.5% |
2016 | 2016/17 Q1 | 277,747 | 6,789,198 | 4.1% |
2017 | 2017/18 Q1 | 288,848 | 6,705,571 | 4.3% |
2018 | 2018/19 Q1 | 306,444 | 6,667,086 | 4.6% |
2019 | 2019/20 Q1 | 332,886 | 6,649,338 | 5.0% |
2020 | 2020/21 Q1 | 332,336 | 6,607,988 | 5.0% |
2021 | 2021/22 Q1 | 383,737 | 6,638,826 | 5.8% |
2022 | 2022/23 Q1 | 382,009 | 6,746,650 | 5.7% |
2023 | 2023/24 Q1 | 369,270 | 6,861,435 | 5.4% |