The number of children visiting outpatient medical institutions for mental health-related diseases such as depression has more than doubled over the past four years.
According to data submitted on the 4th by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service to Jin Sun-mi, a member of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party of Korea, 270,625 children under the age of 18 visited outpatient clinics for mental health-related diseases such as depression from January to November last year, more than double compared to 133,235 in 2020.
The number of child patients related to mental health-related diseases has increased every year since 2020: 172,441 in 2021, 212,451 in 2022, and 244,884 in 2023. The average number of children visiting outpatient clinics for psychiatric treatment increased by 19.4% during this period.
The increase in the number of patients was particularly rapid among those aged 7 to 12. The number of male child patients in this age group increased from 33,800 in 2020 to 76,159 in 2024, a rise of 2.3 times. The number of female child patients in the same age group rose from 12,260 to 29,165, a 2.4-fold increase.
During the same period, for ages 0 to 6, the number of male child patients increased from 12,707 to 19,505, and the number of female patients rose from 5,231 to 7,763, both increasing by 1.5 times. The number of male patients aged 13 to 18 grew from 35,193 to 66,459, while the number of female patients rose from 34,044 to 71,574, increasing by 1.9 times and 2.1 times, respectively.
The most commonly diagnosed conditions among child patients were "depressive episode," "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," "anxiety disorder," and "mood disorder."