Facts & Stats

• Chances of having a mental health issue in your lifetime in Canada: ONE IN FIVE
• Percentage of people who commit suicide who have a diagnosable mental illness: 90%
• Mental illness costs Canadian business about $51 billion a year 
• $5 billion in direct medical costs
• $9.3 billion in lost productivity due to short-term sick leave
• $8.5 billion in lost productivity due to long-term disability
• $28 billion is attributed to "reductions in health-related quality of life" - a method used to put a dollar figure on pain and suffering
• The cost of supporting someone with serious mental illness to live in the community: $34,418 per year (all costs)
• The cost of keeping someone with serious mental illness in the hospital: $170,820 per year. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2020, depression will be the leading cause of disability on the planet
• 500,000 Canadians daily are absent from work because of psychiatric and psychological problems
• 40 per cent of all disability claims, short-term and long-term, involve mental health conditions
• 18 per cent of workers in Canada have had a diagnosis of clinical depression
• 8 per cent of workers currently on the job are taking drugs for a mental health condition
• The activity known to reduce the symptoms of anxiety, depression and panic disorder: exercise
• The amount of exercise required to reduce symptoms: moderate
• The five psychological aspects of work that promote mental health:
  •  time structure (known and reasonable deadlines)
  • social contact
  • collective effort and purpose (team work)
  • social identity
  • regular activity (organization of work)
• What group shows the lowest rate of mental and physical illness, and the lowest rate of alcoholism: people who are married
• Percentage of people in Canada who feel strongly connected to their community and who also report positive mental health: 78%

Sources:  Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace; World Health Organization