Norway mental health consultations among young people have increased sharply since 2010, according to a new nationwide study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Folkehelseinstituttet, FHI), with researchers pointing to anxiety and depression symptoms as the main drivers of the rise.
The study, published on 1 July 2026, examined general practitioner visits in Norway between 2010 and 2024. It found that the share of people aged 10 to 46 who had at least one GP appointment related to mental health in a given year rose from 9.9% in 2010 to 16.0% in 2024, an increase of 62%.
The rise was most pronounced among young adults aged 21 to 30 and has accelerated in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. FHI said the increase was visible among both sexes, but stronger among girls and women than among boys and men.
Norway mental health consultations rose most among young adults
In Norway, the general practitioner, known as a fastlege, is usually the first point of contact for non-emergency healthcare. Each consultation is recorded with a medical code describing why the patient sought help.
FHI researchers analysed these codes across a population-wide dataset covering more than 3.7 million people aged 10 to 46. The study looked both at all mental health-related consultations in primary care and, more specifically, at appointments coded as symptoms of anxiety and depression compared with appointments coded as anxiety disorders or depressive disorders.
The distinction is important. FHI found that the recent increase in mental health consultations was mainly linked to symptoms, rather than formal diagnoses.
Symptoms increased more than diagnoses
According to the study, the share of people recorded with anxiety symptoms rose from 0.44% in 2010 to 1.7% in 2024. Depressive symptoms increased from 0.73% to 1.8% over the same period.
The increase in diagnosed anxiety disorders was smaller, from 0.95% to 1.4%, while diagnosed depressive disorders remained broadly stable, moving from 2.8% to 2.7%.
“It is primarily milder mental health problems that are driving the increase in GP consultations for mental health problems in recent years. If the growth continues, it could lead to capacity challenges in the GP service in the long term,” said FHI researcher Kathryn Christine Beck, from the Centre for Fertility and Health.
The finding suggests that more people are turning to primary care at an earlier stage, before symptoms necessarily meet the threshold for a formal diagnosis.
Lower stigma may be changing how young people seek help
FHI said the trend may have several explanations. Beck noted that there may be a lower threshold for seeking help, that more people may be contacting mental health services earlier, that doctors may be more cautious about assigning diagnoses, or that there may be a real increase in milder mental health problems in the population.
This means the data should not be read only as evidence that mental health is worsening among young people. The rise in GP visits for mental health may also reflect broader social change, including lower stigma around psychological distress and greater awareness among younger generations.
Younger people are often more open to discussing anxiety, depression and emotional wellbeing than previous generations. In that context, an increase in consultations can also indicate that more people are willing to ask for support before problems become more severe.
At the same time, the acceleration after 2020 suggests that the pandemic may have reinforced existing trends. FHI found that consultations for depressive symptoms increased faster after 2020 among adults aged 21 to 46 than in the period from 2010 to 2019. The researchers did not observe a similar acceleration in GP consultations for somatic reasons.
“The increase we see, whether it is due to changes in the threshold for seeking help, diagnostic practice or a real increase in milder mental health problems, may have been reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic and continued in the years after,” Beck said.
A pressure point for Norway’s primary care system
The study adds to a broader Nordic and European debate about the mental health of young people and the capacity of public healthcare systems to respond. In Norway, as in other Nordic countries, primary care plays a central role in early detection, referral and prevention.
If more young people seek help earlier, this may improve access to support and reduce the risk of untreated problems. But it may also place more pressure on GPs, especially if demand continues to rise while staffing and appointment capacity remain limited.
For policymakers, the Norwegian figures point to a dual challenge: recognising that more consultations may reflect better awareness and lower stigma, while ensuring that primary care services can handle growing demand. The coming years will show whether the trend stabilises after the post-pandemic period or becomes a lasting feature of youth healthcare in Norway and across the Nordic region.
