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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2011 Jan;68(1):90–100. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.180

Table 1.

World Mental Health (WMH) survey sample characteristics

Country Survey1 Sample design Field Dates Age Range Sample Size Response Rate4
Part I Part II Part II and Age 18–443
I. Developed
 Belgium ESEMeD Stratified multistage clustered probability sample of individuals residing in households from the national register of Belgium residents. NR 2001–2 18+ 2,419 1,043 486 50.6
 France ESEMeD Stratified multistage clustered sample of working telephone numbers merged with a reverse directory (for listed numbers). Initial recruitment was by telephone, with supplemental in-person recruitment in households with listed numbers. NR 2001–2 18+ 2,894 1,436 727 45.9
 Germany ESEMeD Stratified multistage clustered probability sample of individuals from community resident registries. NR 2002–3 18+ 3,555 1,323 621 57.8
 Italy ESEMeD Stratified multistage clustered probability sample of individuals from municipality resident registries. NR 2001–2 18+ 4,712 1,779 853 71.3
 Netherlands ESEMeD Stratified multistage clustered probability sample of individuals residing in households that are listed in municipal postal registries. NR 2002–3 18+ 2,372 1,094 516 56.4
 Spain ESEMeD Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents. NR 2001–2 18+ 5,473 2,121 960 78.6
 United States NCS-R Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents. NR 2002–3 18+ 9,282 5,692 3,197 70.9
 Total 30,707 14,488 7,360 63.8
II. Developing
 Brazil São Paulo Megacity Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents in the São Paulo metropolitan area. 2004–7 18+ 5,037 2,942 1,824 81.3
 Colombia NSMH Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents in all urban areas of the country (approximately 73% of the total national population) 2003 18–65 4,426 2,381 1,731 87.7
 India WMHI Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents in Pondicherry region. NR 2003–5 18+ 2,992 1,373 825 98.6
 Lebanon LEBANON Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents. NR 2002–3 18+ 2,857 1,031 595 70.0
 Mexico M-NCS Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents in all urban areas of the country (approximately 75% of the total national population). 2001–2 18–65 5,782 2,362 1,736 76.6
 PRC Shenzhen Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents and temporary residents in the Shenzhen area. 2006–7 18+ 7,134 7,1343 6,2183 80.0
 Romania RMHS Stratified multistage clustered area probability sample of household residents. NR 2005–6 18+ 2,357 2,357 940 70.9
 Total 30,585 19,580 13,686 80.2
III. Total 61,292 34,068 21,229 71.1
1

ESEMeD (The European Study Of The Epidemiology Of Mental Disorders); NCS-R (The US National Comorbidity Survey Replication); NSMH (The Colombian National Study of Mental Health); WMHI (World Mental Health India); LEBANON (Lebanese Evaluation of the Burden of Ailments and Needs of the Nation); M-NCS (The Mexico National Comorbidity Survey); RMHS (Romania Mental Health Survey);

2

Most WMH surveys are based on stratified multistage clustered area probability household samples in which samples of areas equivalent to counties or municipalities in the US were selected in the first stage followed by one or more subsequent stages of geographic sampling (e.g., towns within counties, blocks within towns, households within blocks) to arrive at a sample of households, in each of which a listing of household members was created and one or two people were selected from this listing to be interviewed. No substitution was allowed when the originally sampled household resident could not be interviewed. These household samples were selected from Census area data in all countries other than France (where telephone directories were used to select households) and the Netherlands (where postal registries were used to select households). Several WMH surveys (Belgium, Germany, Italy) used municipal resident registries to select respondents without listing households. 10 of the 14 surveys are based on nationally representative (NR) household samples. The others are representative of particular cities (Brazil, India) or the urbanized areas of the countryt (Colombia, Mexico).

3

In Shenzhen, all respondents received the Part II interview and all respondents between ages of 18 and 44 were used in the current analysis.

4

The response rate is calculated as the ratio of the number of households in which an interview was completed to the number of households originally sampled, excluding from the denominator households known not to be eligible either because of being vacant at the time of initial contact or because the residents were unable to speak the designated languages of the survey.