Wes Streeting is launching a review into rising demand for mental health, ADHD and autism services.
Earlier this year, the Health Secretary said there had been an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions with “too many people being written off”.
The review, to be published next summer, will be led by by Professor Peter Fonagy, national clinical adviser on children and young people’s mental health.
It is set to examine why people are turning to the NHS and other services for support, the role of diagnosis in accessing help, and how effective current ways of tackling the problems are.
Here’s a look at how children in the the UK compare with some other countries.
What does the UK data show?
The Lancet and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) put the rate of childhood ADHD at five per cent compared to three to four per cent for adults.
Some experts believe there are similar rates in other countries, but that only a fraction have been diagnosed.
One study found ADHD diagnoses increased in the UK from 2000 to 2018. By 2018, the highest rates were in boys aged 10 to 16 – 3.5 per cent had been diagnosed and 2.4 per cent were on medication.
Back in 2000, those numbers were 1.4 per cent and 0.6 per cent.
Another survey of 10,438 children between the ages of 5 and 15 years found that 3.62 per cent of boys and 0.85 per cent of girls had ADHD.
It is estimated that one in 100 children in the UK have autism spectrum disorder, with boys three to four times more likely to be diagnosed.
How do ADHD rates in the UK compare with other countries?
In 2022, the US Centre for Disease and Control prevention reported that over seven million (11.4 per cent) children aged three to 17 years had been diagnosed with ADHD, a leap of one million compared with 2016.
ADHD rates for children in Canada vary from 6.9 per cent to 8.6 per cent for children aged four to 17.
In Europe, a French study indicated 3.68 per cent of children have ADHD compared with 5.5 per cent of adults, with around 800,000 children and 1.4 million adults affected.
In Spain, estimates of ADHD prevalence in children range from 5.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent.
Analysis of 15 studies in Italy in 2018 found an average of 2.9 per cent of children had ADHD.
A German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (2014-2017) found around 4.4 per cent of children and adolescents were diagnosed with ADHD.
How about Autism?
Around one in 31 (3.2 per cent) children aged eight in the US had been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to estimates from the CDC.
In Canada, approximately 1 in 50 (or two per cent) children aged one to 17 were diagnosed with autism, according to 2019 data from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
According to leading charity Fondation de France, one child in 100 is born with an autism spectrum disorder in France.
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Autism rates in Spain have varied by region from 0.6 per cent to two per cent.
The estimated autism rate in Italy for children aged seven to nine is about 1 in 77 children, according to a 2023 study.
In Germany, the number of autism diagnoses rose from 0.22 percent of all under-24-year-olds in 2006 to 0.38 percent in 2012.
What has Wes Streeting said?
The Health Secretary said the report must look at the issues of rising poor mental health, ADHD and autism diagnosis “through a strictly clinical lens”.
“That’s the only way we can ensure everyone gets timely access to accurate diagnosis and effective support,” Streeting said.
It comes as ministers try to tackle the growing welfare bill.
Prof Fonagy said: “We will examine the evidence with care – from research, from people with lived experience, and from clinicians working at the front line of mental health, autism and ADHD services – to understand, in a grounded way, what is driving rising demand.
“My aim is to test assumptions rigorously and listen closely to those most affected, so that our recommendations are both honest and genuinely useful.
“We owe it to children and families, young people and adults to provide Government with advice that is proportionate, evidence-based and capable of improving people’s lives.”
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