The World Health Organization marked World Mental Health Day on Saturday with a renewed appeal for governments to expand mental health financing. Most countries still spend less than 2 percent of their health budgets on psychological care, the agency warned. The 2026 theme focuses on mental health in the workplace and among young people.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanos Ghebreyesus said in a statement from Geneva that depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy roughly $1 trillion annually in lost productivity. He urged member states to integrate mental health services into primary care and to protect workers from burnout and harassment.

The observance drew coordinated activity from national health bodies, patient advocacy groups and professional associations. The Royal College of Psychiatrists in London and the American Psychiatric Association in Washington issued statements highlighting long waiting lists and workforce shortages that leave millions without timely care.

Campaigners pressed for concrete commitments rather than symbolic gestures. Mental health charities including Mind in the United Kingdom called on governments to ring-fence funding and expand access to talking therapies, noting that demand has risen sharply among adolescents since the pandemic.

The WHO reiterated that an estimated one billion people worldwide live with a mental disorder, while access to treatment remains deeply unequal between high- and low-income nations.