One billion minds at risk: Where does Nigeria stand in WHO’s mental health warning?
As the World Health Organisation (WHO) raises the alarm on one billion people living with mental health conditions, Nigeria’s own crisis reveals a deeper struggle hidden in plain sight.

If you strolled through Balogun Market in Lagos or sat in traffic along Abuja’s Airport Road, you’d notice the noise, the sweat, and the endless grind. What you would not notice is the quiet battle many are fighting behind those straight faces.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) just dropped a stark reality check: nearly one billion people across the world are living with mental health conditions. That is one out of every eight humans. In Nigeria, the picture is even darker; close to 20 million people are carrying depression, anxiety, or worse, often without proper care or even acknowledgement.
Mental health in this country has always been like a ghost in the room. You feel its presence, but no one wants to talk about it. From offices where workers drag themselves through burnout, to classrooms where young people are breaking down under pressure, to homes where trauma lingers in silence, it is everywhere. But somehow, we pretend it is not there.
Nigeria’s hidden burden
The numbers do not lie. WHO estimates show that one in four Nigerians will face a mental health condition in their lifetime. But the healthcare system built to handle this is shockingly thin. Out of 36 states and the FCT, fewer than 10 functioning psychiatric hospitals exist, and they are concentrated in a handful of urban centres. For a country of over 200 million people, that is like bringing a bucket to fight a flood.
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It does not help that funding for mental health is barely on the radar. Nigeria allocates less than 10% of its already tight health budget to mental health, leaving families to shoulder the cost. Many turn to spiritual homes, herbalists, or traditional healers, not out of choice but because therapy and medication are out of reach. And the stigma? Still crushing. People fear being labelled “mad” more than they fear the illness itself.
Why it hit harder here
Nigeria is not short of reasons for mental strain. The economy alone is enough to stretch anyone thin, with inflation, joblessness, and rising costs of everything from food to fuel. Then add insecurity, displacement from conflict, and the daily stress of just surviving in overcrowded cities. It is a cocktail that brews silent breakdowns.
Young Nigerians are especially caught in the storm. The WHO’s report shows that depression and anxiety rates are climbing fastest among adolescents and young adults worldwide. Here at home, it is the students juggling strikes, the unemployed graduates, and the young mothers raising kids with no support system. For many, dreams are shrinking under the weight of reality.
Breaking the silence
There is hope, but it has to be intentional. The Mental Health Act, signed in 2023, was a big step forward, replacing the colonial-era Lunacy Act. It promises rights, protections, and better integration of mental health into primary healthcare. But laws do not change lives unless they are backed with money, training, and awareness.
Communities and the media have their role too. Normalising conversations around therapy, stress, and wellbeing can chip away at stigma. Social media has already opened the door a crack, with more Nigerians, especially the young, openly sharing their struggles. Still, for this to translate into real change, the government and the private sector need to treat mental health as seriously as they treat malaria or maternal health.
Because in the end, this isn’t about abstract numbers. It is about that market trader who cries quietly after work. It’s about the banker on antidepressants no one knows about. It’s about the student who feels life is too heavy. The WHO’s warning should remind us that mental health is not a luxury for Nigeria, but its survival.
