Policies and Practices for Mental Health in Europe

This WHO report, co-funded by the European Commission, gives an overview of policies and practices for mental health in 42 Member States in the WHO European Region. Nearly all countries have made significant progress over the past few years, and several are among the leaders in the world in such areas as mental health promotion, mental disorder prevention, service reform and human rights. Nevertheless, this report also identifies weaknesses in Europe: some systematic, such as the lack of consensus on definitions and the absence of compatible data collection, and others that show great variation across countries, such as the stage of community services development and the level of investment in various areas. It also identifies gaps in information in areas of strategic importance for the development of mental health policies. This report is a baseline against which progress can be measured towards the vision and the milestones of the Mental Health Declaration for Europe.