Table 1. Lifetime Prevalence of Overall Drug Use and Specific Drug Use in the World Mental Health Surveys.
| Countrya | No.b | % (SE)c | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cannabis | Cocaine | Prescription Drugsd | Other Drugs | Any Drugse,f | ||
| Low and lower-middle income | 18 179 | 5.3 (0.2) | 2.0 (0.1) | 4.7 (0.2) | 0.6 (0.1) | 10.0 (0.3) |
| Colombia | 4426 | 10.8 (0.6) | 4.0 (0.4) | 2.2 (0.3) | 0.9 (0.2) | 12.7 (0.7) |
| Iraq | 4332 | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 1.2 (0.2) | 0.1 (0.0) | 1.3 (0.2) |
| Nigeria | 2143 | 2.7 (0.5) | 0.1 (0.1) | 18.7 (1.3) | 0.5 (0.2) | 20.4 (1.3) |
| Peru | 3930 | 7.9 (0.4) | 4.8 (0.2) | 4.3 (0.3) | 1.0 (0.1) | 13.3 (0.5) |
| China | 1628 | 0.3 (0.1) | 0.0 (0.0) | 5.8 (0.9) | 0.2 (0.2) | 5.9 (0.9) |
| Ukraine | 1720 | 6.4 (1.0) | 0.1 (0.0) | 2.4 (0.6) | 0.8 (0.2) | 8.4 (1.2) |
| Upper-middle income | 20 051 | 9.2 (0.3) | 3.1 (0.2) | 7.8 (0.4) | 1.5 (0.1) | 16.2 (0.5) |
| Brazil | 5037 | 11.8 (0.7) | 5.2 (0.4) | 6.9 (0.3) | 2.5 (0.3) | 17.6 (0.7) |
| Bulgaria | 2233 | 1.3 (0.5) | 0.0 (0.0) | 6.1 (0.6) | 0.0 (0.0) | 7.3 (0.8) |
| Lebanon | 1031 | 4.6 (0.9) | 0.7 (0.3) | 2.0 (0.6) | 0.3 (0.2) | 6.2 (1.1) |
| Medellín | 1673 | 21.9 (1.9) | 6.3 (0.9) | 2.7 (0.6) | 1.8 (0.4) | 22.7 (1.9) |
| Mexico | 5767 | 7.8 (0.5) | 4.0 (0.4) | 1.8 (0.3) | 1.0 (0.2) | 10.1 (0.5) |
| South Africa | 4310 | 8.4 (0.6) | 0.7 (0.3) | 21.5 (1.5) | 1.7 (0.3) | 27.2 (1.7) |
| High income | 51 797 | 24 (0.3) | 4.4 (0.1) | 13.6 (0.2) | 6.2 (0.2) | 33.3 (0.3) |
| Argentina | 2116 | 14.2 (1.0) | 5.8 (0.6) | 14.4 (1.1) | 3.3 (0.5) | 26.3 (1.3) |
| Australia | 8463 | 19.8 (0.6) | 2.9 (0.3) | 2.5 (0.2) | 7.3 (0.4) | 21.4 (0.6) |
| Belgium | 1043 | 10.4 (1.6) | 1.5 (0.6) | 43.5 (3.0) | 2.8 (0.8) | 47.6 (2.8) |
| France | 1436 | 19 (1.6) | 1.5 (0.4) | 43.4 (2.0) | 4.8 (0.7) | 52.7 (1.7) |
| Germany | 1323 | 17.5 (1.6) | 1.9 (0.5) | 62.3 (2.5) | 3.4 (0.7) | 66.4 (2.5) |
| Israel | 4824 | 11.5 (0.5) | 0.9 (0.1) | 1.7 (0.2) | 1.8 (0.2) | 12.9 (0.5) |
| Italy | 1779 | 6.6 (0.8) | 1.0 (0.3) | 66.0 (2.0) | 0.9 (0.2) | 66.8 (2.0) |
| Japan | 1671 | 1.5 (0.4) | 0.5 (0.2) | 4.8 (0.7) | 1.8 (0.5) | 7.0 (0.8) |
| Murcia, Spain | 1459 | 23.1 (1.3) | 7.8 (1.1) | 0.9 (0.5) | 3.1 (0.8) | 24.2 (1.5) |
| Netherlands | 1094 | 19.8 (1.3) | 1.9 (0.2) | 20.1 (2.4) | 4.1 (0.8) | 35.9 (2.4) |
| New Zealand | 12 790 | 41.9 (0.7) | 4.3 (0.3) | 6.6 (0.3) | 10.2 (0.4) | 42.9 (0.7) |
| Northern Ireland | 1986 | 17.3 (1.1) | 3.5 (0.5) | 2.3 (0.4) | 4.5 (0.7) | 18.2 (1.2) |
| Poland | 4000 | 3.8 (0.3) | 0.4 (0.1) | 5.1 (0.3) | 1.5 (0.2) | 8.7 (0.5) |
| Spain | 2121 | 15.9 (1.3) | 4.1 (0.7) | 61.5 (2.6) | 3.5 (0.7) | 64.5 (2.6) |
| United States | 5692 | 42.3 (1.0) | 16.2 (0.6) | 11.3 (0.5) | 11.1 (0.6) | 44.2 (1.1) |
| All | 90 027 | 16.9 (0.2) | 3.6 (0.1) | 10.5 (0.2) | 4.0 (0.1) | 24.8 (0.2) |
County income group reflects economic development status at time of data collection based on the World Bank country level ranking.
Indicates the total unweighted number of respondents who responded to illicit drug use question(s).
Prevalence estimates are based on weighted data.
All European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders surveys (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain) asked 3 separate questions on extramedical use (on whether it was used without a prescription, more than prescribed, and so regularly in a nonmedical setting that you could not stop) for each prescription drug category. In contrast, most other surveys asked a single question pertaining to extramedical use of specific or any prescription drugs. The more detailed question structure in the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders interviews is likely the reason for the high rates of prescription drug use in these surveys.
Respondents were included in the category “any drugs” if they provided information relating to the use of at least 1 drug.
Used at least 1 of the drug categories considered: cannabis, cocaine, prescription drugs, and other drugs. Any drugs not captured by the first 3 categories were grouped as other drugs.