12-month prevalence of self-reported medical diagnoses of depression in Germany

Depression is a frequent mental disorder and has a growing importance in health care provision. In GEDA 2014/2015-EHIS, 9.7% of women and 6.3% of men self-reported having received a medical diagnosis of depression during the past 12 months. For both genders, the rate of self-reported diagnoses of depression is highest in the 45- to 64-year age group. Education thereby plays a significant role. Prevalence for women from low education is about double that of women from high education backgrounds (12.2% compared with 6.5%). The education gradient for men is smaller (7.5% compared with 5.1%). Prevalence rates also differ sharply between federal states (for women, between 5.4% and 13.4%; for men, between 3.3% and 9.4%). These results are discussed in the light of data currently available.