Mental and Behavioral Health in Asian Americans

Suicide was the leading cause of death for Asians, ages 15 to 24, in 2022.1
In 2023, Asian American male students in grades 9–12 reported seriously considering suicide 22% less than their male peers but reported attempting suicide 10% more than their male peers.2
In 2024, Asian American adults had 55% the rate of mental health treatments as adults of the total population.3
In 2024, Asian adults reported having any mental illness in the past year 27% less frequently than the total population.4

For more information and resources on mental health, visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website.

Looking for curated searches on mental health within minority and tribal populations, including Asian American populations, in the United States and its territories? Check out the OMH Knowledge Center Topic Guides.

Mental health status

Serious psychological distress in the past year among persons ages 18 and over, percentage, 2024
Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian / Total Population Ratio
10.2	13.9	0.73

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 2025. Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 6.88B. For the definition of “serious psychological distress,” see Appendix A.

Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, or that everything is an effort, all or most of the time, among persons ages 18 and over, percentage, 2018
	Asian	Total Population	Asian / Total Population Ratio
Sadness	1.5	3.1	0.48
Hopelessness	1.2	2.3	0.52
Worthlessness	1.7	2.3	0.74
Everything is an effort	6.6	7.2	0.92

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-7c. For the explanation of response categories, see footnote 1 to Table A-7c.

Major depressive episode in the past year among persons ages 18 and over, percentage, 2024
Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian / Total Population Ratio
5.6	8.2	0.68

Source: SAMHSA, 2025. Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 6.41B. For the definition of “major depressive episode,” see Appendix A.

Any mental illness in the past year among persons ages 18 and over, percentage, 2024
Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian/ Total Population Ratio
17.0	23.4	0.73

Source: SAMHSA, 2025. Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 6.7B. For the definition of “any mental illness,” see Appendix A.

Serious psychological distress among adults ages 18 and over, average annual percentage, age-adjusted, 2015–2016
	Population	Population/ All Asian Ratio
All Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	14.9	1.00
Chinese	1.6	0.11
Filipino	2.5	0.17
Asian Indian	1.4	0.09
Japanese	1.1	0.07
Vietnamese	2.5	0.17
Korean	1.3	0.09
Other Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	2.6	0.17

Source: CDC, 2008. Health Characteristics of the Asian Adult Population: United States, 2004-2006. Table 7. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad394.pdf. For the definition of “serious psychological distress,” see the entry under “Definition of terms” in the Technical Notes.

Death rates

Age-adjusted death rates for suicide by sex, race, and Hispanic origin, 2022
	Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian / Total Population Ratio
Male	10.1	23.0	0.44
Female	3.9	5.9	0.66
Total	6.9	14.2	0.49

Source: CDC, 2025. Deaths: Final Data for 2022. National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 74, No. 4. Table 11.

Suicide rates by age, race, and Hispanic origin, 2019: Males
	Non-Hispanic Asian Males	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian/ Total Population Ratio
15–24 years	16.3	22.0	0.74
25–44 years	11.9	28.0	0.43
45–64 years	11.9	29.9	0.40
65 years and over	12.2	31.7	0.38
All ages, age adjusted	10.1	22.4	0.45

Source: CDC, 2023. Health, United States, 2020–2021. Table SuicMort.

Suicide rates by age, race, and Hispanic origin, 2019: Females
	Non-Hispanic Asian Females	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian/ Total Population Ratio
15–24 years	4.9	5.5	0.89
25–44 years	4.0	7.4	0.54
45–64 years	4.9	9.6	0.51
65 years and over	5.1	5.2	0.98
All ages, age adjusted	3.7	6.0	0.62

Source: CDC, 2023. Health, United States, 2020–2021. Table SuicMort.

Adolescents

Death rates for suicide: ages 15–19, 2022
	Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian/ Total Population Ratio
Male	10.4	13.9	0.75
Female	4.4	4.7	0.94
Both Sexes	7.5	9.5	0.79

Source: CDC. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). National Violent Death Reporting System. Violent Deaths Report.

Students in grades 9–12 who seriously considered attempting suicide in the past 12 months, percentage, 2023
	Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian / Total Population Ratio
Male	11.0	14.1	0.78
Female	18.0	27.1	0.67
Total	14.4	20.4	0.71

Source: CDC, 2024. High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. High School Students Who Seriously Considered Attempting Suicide, 2023.

Students in grades 9–12 who attempted suicide in the past 12 months, percentage, 2023
	Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian / Total Population Ratio
Male	7.1	6.4	1.10
Female	8.8	12.6	0.70
Total	8.0	9.5	0.84

Source: CDC, 2024. High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. High School Students Who Actually Attempted Suicide, 2023. 

Access to healthcare

Adults ages 18 and over who received mental health treatment in the past year, percentage, 2024
Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian / Total Population Ratio
12.5	22.9	0.55

Source: SAMHSA, 2025. Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 6.21B.

Adults ages 18 and over who received mental health treatment through prescription medication, percentage, 2024
Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian / Total Population Ratio
6.0	16.7	0.36

Source: SAMHSA, 2025. Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 6.25B.

Adults ages 18 and over with a major depressive episode in the past year who received treatment for depression, percentage, 2024
Non-Hispanic Asian	Total Population	Non-Hispanic Asian / Total Population Ratio
48.0	64.4	0.75

Source: SAMHSA, 2025. Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 6.43B. For the definition of “major depressive episode,” see Appendix A.

1 CDC. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). Leading Causes of Death. (Back to top)

2 CDC, 2024. High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. High School Students Who Actually Attempted Suicide, 2023. (Back to top)

3 SAMHSA, 2025. Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 6.21B. (Back to top)

4 SAMHSA, 2025. Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 6.7B. (Back to top)

Date Last Reviewed: September 2025