Lifetime prevalence of PTSD in adults across the WHO World Mental Health Surveys
3.9%
people per 10,000, worldwide (26 population surveys, 71,083 adults)
“The cross-national lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 3.9% in the total sample and 5.6% among the trauma exposed.”
Koenen et al., Posttraumatic stress disorder in the World Mental Health Surveys, Psychol Med 2017, 2017-10
- Kind of source
- Peer-reviewed study
- Read on
- 2026-11-06
- Daily check
- Quote found at the source on 2026-11-06
- What to know
- Lifetime prevalence (ever had PTSD), not the share who have it now; the authors say half of cases were persistent. The WHO PTSD fact sheet (2026) quotes the same 3.9%. GBD does not model PTSD, so no worldwide count exists.
- Arithmetic
- 3.9% = 390 per 10,000.
- About
- PTSD
Used in
Kept as evidence; no figure on the platform is computed from it yet.