New data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows that while some progress has been made in reducing mental illness and substance abuse, 86.6 million Americans aged 18 and older had either a mental illness or substance use disorder in 2024.
SAMHSA’s 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released Monday, surveyed 70,000 Americans aged 12 and older and compared the responses to 2021 data.
For the most, mental illness statistics trended in either neutral or positive directions last year. Around 23% of American adults, or 61.5 million people, reported having a mental illness in 2024, no change from 2021.
While suicide attempts among American adults also showed no change – 2.2 million attempted suicide – suicide attempts among adolescents aged 12 to 17 declined from 3.6% in 2021 to 2.7% in 2024. While nearly 1 in 5 adolescents showed symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder in 2024, the percentage of those who experienced a major depressive episode dropped from 20.8% in 2021 to 15.4%.
Substance misuse data from 2024 revealed fewer positive results. Nearly three out of five American adults, or 58.3%, reported drinking alcohol, using nicotine products, or taking illicit drugs.
Of that number, 46.6% drank alcohol, with nearly 58 million alcohol drinkers ages 12 and older reporting binge drinking in the past month. However, alcohol use disorder rates fell from 19.6% in 2021 to 9.7% in 2024 among that group.
About 26.3% of adult substance users used a product containing nicotine – including smoking and vaping – and 16.7% used illicit drugs.
When adding 12 to 17-year-olds to the number of substance misusers, data show that both illicit drug use and rates of drug use disorder increased from 2021 to 2024.
Although cocaine and prescription opioid misuse slightly declined in 2024, 25.5% of Americans aged 12 and older used an illicit drug in 2024, up from 22.2% in 2021. The same group saw drug use disorder rates rise to 9.8% last year, up from 8.7% in 2021.
These increases are largely tied to increased marijuana use, SAMHSA says. Use of marijuana among Americans 12 years and older jumped from 19% four years ago to 22.3% last year, roughly 64 million people. Unsurprisingly, marijuana use disorder also jumped between that period from 6% to 7.1%, afflicting 20.6 million people in 2024.
SAMHSA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Art Kleinschmidt said Monday that the report is “incredibly valuable to researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and others, allowing for greater understanding of the nation’s behavioral health, and to help inform actions in support of President [Donald] Trump’s vision to Make America Healthy Again.”
