The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), an annual survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), supports national efforts to improve the health and development of our children.
The NSCH produces national and state-level data for key measures of child health and well-being, including many indicators on children’s behavioral health. These data are essential to understanding the health status, health services needs, and health disparities of children across the nation and in your own state and community.
In 2018-2019, the NSCH found that:
- 13.2% of U.S. children ages 3-17 years (over 8 million) had a current, diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition
- Anxiety was the most common condition (8.5%), followed by behavior disorder (6.8%) and depression (3.8%)
- A greater proportion of males had a behavior disorder (9.1% vs. 4.5%), while a greater proportion of females had anxiety (9.1% vs. 8.0%) and depression (4.4% vs. 3.2%)
- Just over half (53.2%) of children ages 3-17 years with a current mental or behavioral health condition received treatment or counseling from a mental health professional in the past year – meaning that just under half did not receive any treatment.
Click on the link below to explore more data from the NSCH: