This article presents an overview of European Union (EU) statistics related to mental and behavioural disorders and intentional self-harm (which is an external cause of morbidity and mortality). Mental and behavioural disorders include, for example, dementia (a chronic or persistent mental health condition characterised by memory loss, personality changes and impaired reasoning), schizophrenia and psychoactive substance use disorders (such as alcohol or drug dependence). This article covers deaths from mental and behavioural disorders among residents, as well as the availability of specialist healthcare resources (hospital beds and healthcare personnel) for the treatment of mental and behavioural disorders.

This article is included in a set of statistical articles concerning specific health conditions in the EU which forms part of an online publication on Health in the European Union facts and figures.

Deaths from mental and behavioural disorders and intentional self-harm
In 2022, there were almost 210 800 deaths in the EU resulting from mental and behavioural disorders, equivalent to 4.1% of all deaths. Relative to the population size, there were 42 deaths from mental and behavioural disorders per 100 000 inhabitants.

Mental and behavioural disorders were a particularly common cause of death at advanced ages. The EU standardised death rate from mental and behavioural disorders in 2022 for those aged 65 years or over was 45 times as high as the standardised death rate for people aged less than 65 years. This can be compared with the same ratio for all causes of death, where the death rate for those aged 65 years or over was 22 times as high.