Why Is Anxiety Higher In Some Countries? What The World Teaches Us About Anxiety

Anxiety is higher in some countries because of how it is talked about, how it shows up in the body and how daily life shapes our nervous system. As anxiety specialist Jennifer Roblin explains, anxiety is a learnt response rather than something we are born with, which is exactly why it can be unlearned, wherever in the world we live.

This article is for you if you recognise yourself here ...

Do you ever feel as though everyone around you seems more anxious than they used to be?

Have you noticed your anxiety creeping in more during the darker months, or when life feels busier than ever?

Have you ever wondered whether you would feel calmer if you lived somewhere else, or lived a different kind of life altogether?

If any of these sound familiar, you are far from alone. Hundreds of millions of people around the world live with anxiety, and yet it is not spread evenly. In some countries, anxiety is estimated to be around five times more widespread than in others. That difference tells us something really hopeful about what anxiety is, and about what we can do to change it.

Every year on 10 October, World Mental Health Day invites us to talk more openly about how we are really doing. The theme for 2026, "Lived Experience Heard: Real Voices, Real Change", is a reminder that every experience of anxiety deserves to be listened to and understood, whether it shows up as a racing mind, a tight chest or a stomach that never quite settles.

Many of us know exactly what anxiety feels like. Far fewer of us truly understand what it actually is. And once we understand it, we can begin to change it. We are not broken. We just need our nervous system to recalibrate.

What You Will Learn

In the next few minutes, we will look at what the world can teach us about anxiety, and what that means for you. We will cover:

• What anxiety really is, and why it is a learnt response rather than a fixed part of who we are
• How the language of anxiety has changed, from nerves to a recognised diagnosis
• How anxiety rates compare around the world
• Seven reasons anxiety is higher in some countries than others
• Why moving somewhere new rarely settles anxiety on its own
• Eight calming strategies inspired by cultures around the world
• Where to turn if you would like support with the root cause

Before we begin, our free two minute anxiety quiz is a good place to start. It gives you a quick picture of how anxiety is showing up in your own life, so the rest of this article feels more personal to you.

Understanding Your Anxiety In Just 2 Minutes

This quiz is designed to help you uncover insights and get personalised tips to take back control. Quick, free and confidential.

Click Here For Your Free Anxiety Quiz

What Is Anxiety, Really?

Before we look at the numbers, it helps to understand what anxiety actually is. Anxiety is our nervous system's alarm. Its job is to keep us safe. When our brain senses a threat, it prepares the body for fight or flight. Our heart beats faster, our breathing quickens, our muscles tighten and our mind starts scanning for danger. In a genuinely dangerous moment, this is brilliant. It is what helped our ancestors survive through plagues, wars, famines, etc.

The difficulty comes when that alarm goes off when there is no real danger, triggered by a busy inbox, a crowded room or a dark January morning. Over time, our nervous system can become so used to being on high alert that it forgets how to switch off.

Anxiety is not something we are simply born with. It is a learnt behaviour. Our unconscious mind forms beliefs from everything we experience, in our families, our schools, our workplaces and our wider culture, about what is safe and what is not. Our nervous system then stores and acts out the response patterns wired to those beliefs, over and over, until they feel automatic. If you would like to go deeper into this, our article on what causes anxiety explains how these patterns form.

No one is born an anxious person.

And that is exactly why the global picture is so interesting. If anxiety were simply in our genes, we would expect it to look much the same everywhere. It does not.

When Did We Start Calling It Anxiety?

Anxiety itself is as old as humanity, and has kept us alive as a species. What has changed over time is the name we give it. The word anxiety comes from the Latin angere, meaning to squeeze or choke, which is exactly how a tight chest or a lump in the throat can feel. Over two thousand years ago, the Roman writer Cicero was already separating anxietas, a lasting tendency to worry, from angor, a passing moment of distress.

For most of history, though, people did not use the word anxiety about themselves. In the late 1800s doctors talked about nerves, and our grandparents later spoke of bad nerves, a nervous disposition or a nervous breakdown.

One of the most noticeable ways to see how our language has changed is in the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is the handbook published by the American Psychiatric Association that describes mental health conditions and how they are diagnosed, and it is used by clinicians and researchers around the world. Here in the UK, the NHS works mainly from a similar guide published by the World Health Organisation, called the ICD.

When the first DSM was published in 1952, anxiety appeared only as an "anxiety reaction", one of a group of so called nervous conditions. By the second edition in 1968, it was called "anxiety neurosis". It was not until 1980 that anxiety disorders became a category of their own, and generalised anxiety, panic and social anxiety (then called social phobia) were named separately for the first time. The manual has been updated several times since, most recently in 2022.

So part of the rise in the numbers we see today is simply that we now have a word for something people have always felt.

I see this in my own story. When I was growing up, nobody called it anxiety. I was described as nervous, a worrier and socially awkward. Those labels made it sound like a fixed part of my personality, something I simply had to live with. It was not. It was my nervous system doing its best to keep me safe, and it could change.

Many of us carry labels like these from childhood: shy, highly strung, a born worrier, too sensitive. If that sounds familiar, the label was simply the language of the time. The pattern underneath it is learnt, and what is learnt can be unlearnt.

How Do Anxiety Rates Compare Around The World?

The World Health Organization estimates that 470 million people were living with an anxiety disorder in 2023, including 146 million children and teenagers.

When we compare countries, the differences are striking. Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study suggest that in Portugal, Malta, Brazil, the Netherlands, the UK and Australia, roughly one in every eight to ten people is living with an anxiety disorder at any one time. In Vietnam and Mauritius, which sit at the other end of the scale, it is closer to one in forty five.

Here at home, the picture is just as clear. The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey found that in England, around one in five adults now live with a common mental health condition such as anxiety or depression, up from around one in six a decade earlier. Among 16 to 24 year olds, it is around one in four.

And anxiety has been rising even in countries we tend to think of as calm. In Sweden, the share of people reporting worry or anxiety rose from 31% in 2011 to 44% in 2024. In the Netherlands, the share of adults with an anxiety disorder over a year rose from around 10% to around 15% in just over a decade.

So what does this mean for you? If your anxiety has been building, you are part of a much bigger pattern, and that pattern is shaped by the world around us.

Why Is Anxiety Higher In Some Countries?

It would be easy to look at those figures and assume people in Vietnam are simply calmer than people in the UK. But these are estimates built from surveys and statistical modelling, not a count of everyone who feels anxious. They reflect how anxiety is felt, how it is talked about, and how life in each place affects our nervous system. Here are seven reasons the numbers differ so much.

1. Anxiety Speaks A Different Language In Different Cultures

In many Asian cultures, emotional struggles are often kept within the family, so anxiety is more likely to be described as headaches, dizziness, an upset stomach or poor sleep, and never called anxiety at all. One study comparing people with anxiety in Nepal and the United States found the Nepali group described far more physical symptoms, while the American group more often described feeling worried or nervous. The anxiety was the same. The way the body expressed it was different.

This matters for all of us. Plenty of people tell us they do not feel anxious, they just have a constant knot in their stomach, tight shoulders or a racing heart at night. That is anxiety too, and our article on what anxiety feels like physically walks through the many ways it can show up in the body.

2. Openness Changes The Numbers

In countries where mental health is talked about freely, more people recognise anxiety and feel able to say so. Part of why the UK, the Netherlands and Australia rank so highly is that we have started having these conversations. Higher numbers can be a sign that more people are finally being heard. If you would like to open up that conversation with someone you love, our guide on how to start a conversation about mental health is a helpful place to begin.

How we measure anxiety matters too. The United States is a good example. On the global estimates it sits below the UK, yet America's own national surveys suggest that around one in five adults has an anxiety disorder in any given year, which would place it among the highest in the world. Where a country lands depends as much on the questions asked as on how anxious people really are.

3. Life That Never Switches Off

Long working hours, constant notifications and the pressure to always be available keep our nervous system on alert. Our alarm was designed for short bursts of danger, not for a phone that comes to bed with us. When the alarm never gets the chance to reset, it can slide into exhaustion, which is why so many of us recognise ourselves in our article on burnout and how to overcome it.

Every one of us has a zone where we can cope with life's ups and downs and still feel like ourselves. When we are pushed out of it too often, anxiety takes over. Our Window of Tolerance workbook helps you map that zone for yourself and notice when you are close to the edge.

Window Of Tolerance Anxiety Workbook

Download our FREE workbook to understand your own Window of Tolerance and reduce anxiety.

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4. Money Worries And Uncertainty

Financial pressure is one of the biggest triggers for a nervous system that feels unsafe. In England, adults living in the most deprived areas, or struggling with debt, are more likely to experience a common mental health condition. When we are worried about paying the bills, our body stays braced for danger.

5. Connection And Loneliness

We are wired for connection. Feeling part of a community tells our nervous system that we are safe. Research in several countries has linked loneliness in young adulthood with anxiety in the years that follow, and busy, spread out lives can leave many of us feeling more alone than we realise. Our article on why anxiety can make you feel lonely explores how the two feed each other.

6. Light, Nature And Movement

The amount of daylight we see, our access to green spaces, and whether we walk, cycle or sit in traffic all shape how often our nervous system gets the chance to settle. In northern countries with long, dark winters, many people notice their mood and anxiety shift with the seasons. If that sounds like you, our article on seasonal affective disorder explains why the darker months can feel so much harder.

7. What We Were Taught

Every family and every culture quietly teaches us what is safe to feel, what is safe to say, and how to respond when life feels threatening. A child who grows up around worry learns to watch for danger. Often this comes from parents with the most loving intentions, who simply want to keep us safe. This is why anxiety so often runs in families. Not because it is in our genes, but because it is learnt, something we look at closely in our article on whether our own anxiety can make our children anxious.

Do You Need To Move Country To Feel Less Anxious?

When we put all of this together, the message is a hopeful one. Anxiety is shaped by the world around us. And if our environment can teach our nervous system to feel unsafe, we can also create experiences that teach it to feel safe again.

We do not need to move country to feel calmer. Most of us cannot change where we live or the length of a British winter. And even when people do move, the pattern often comes with them, because it lives in the unconscious mind and the nervous system, not in the postcode. What we can do is borrow the habits that help other cultures stay grounded, and give our nervous system small, regular signals of safety.

I saw this for myself when I worked in Sweden. In winter, daylight is so precious that many meetings were held outdoors, walking side by side. Those conversations felt less confrontational, and we often reached a solution much faster. That experience later inspired our Walk and Talk Therapy.

So the question is not "what is wrong with me?" It is "what has my nervous system learnt, and what does it need to learn now?" That is the work we do together in anxiety therapy, and it is why we always say anxiety can be unlearned.

Here is what Hannah shared on Google after working with us:

"She explains anxiety in an easy to understand and helpful way, and has given me useful tools that have enabled me to feel empowered to support myself." - Hannah

★★★★★

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8 Ways To Calm Your Nervous System, Inspired By Cultures Around The World

These are tools you can use at home or between sessions. They help settle the surface of anxiety in the short term, and each one works because of what it does to your nervous system. They will not reach the unconscious patterns underneath, which is the deeper therapy work, so think of them as a starting point rather than the destination.

1. Lengthen Your Out Breath

Breathe in through your nose for a count of four. Then breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of six or seven, as though you are blowing through a straw. Repeat this five times whenever you feel tension building.

The reason this works sits in the wiring of your body. Your out breath is linked to the vagus nerve, which runs the rest and digest side of your nervous system. When the out breath is longer than the in breath, you send a physical signal that the danger has passed, and your heart rate begins to slow. Nobody can see you doing it, so you can use it anywhere. Our deeper guide on how breathing techniques help with anxiety walks through several more.

2. Try Forest Bathing, Inspired By Japan

In Japan, shinrin yoku, or forest bathing, simply means spending unhurried time among trees. A park or your own garden will do just as well. Walk slowly, notice the colours, the smells and the sounds, and leave your phone in your pocket.

Natural settings ask very little of our attention, so the alarm system in the brain finally gets to stand down. Even twenty minutes outdoors can leave the body noticeably calmer, and you may enjoy our article on whether gardening can help anxiety if you like to be hands on.

3. Walk Side By Side, Inspired By Sweden

If there is a conversation you have been dreading, try having it on a walk rather than across a table. This works beautifully with anxious children and teenagers too.

Walking side by side takes away the pressure of direct eye contact, which our nervous system can read as a challenge. The rhythm of walking also helps the body release the nervous energy that anxiety creates.

4. Chase The Morning Light, Inspired By Nordic Winters

Step outside within an hour of waking, even for ten minutes, even on a grey day. On the darkest mornings, a walk at lunchtime is a lovely alternative.

Natural daylight helps to set your body clock, which supports deeper sleep and steadier energy. When our body clock is out of step, our nervous system is more easily tipped into alert.

5. Practise Niksen, Inspired By The Netherlands

The Dutch word niksen means doing nothing, on purpose. Set aside five minutes with no phone, no list and no goal. Simply sit, look out of the window and let your mind wander.

So much of modern life keeps us scanning for the next task or the next message, and that constant scanning is exactly what an anxious nervous system does. Niksen gives your system a few moments where there is nothing to watch out for. If it feels uncomfortable at first, that is simply your alarm noticing the change, and it softens with practice.

6. Create Your Own Feierabend, Inspired By Germany

In Germany, Feierabend marks the moment the working day ends and personal time begins. Choose a small ritual that does the same for you. Close the laptop, change your clothes, light a candle or step outside for a few breaths of fresh air.

Our nervous system responds well to clear signals. Without a boundary, the body never gets the message that the day's demands are over. A simple, repeated ritual becomes a cue, and over time your body learns that when it happens, it is safe to let go.

7. Bring In Some Hygge, Inspired By Denmark

Hygge is the Danish art of cosiness and connection. Soft lighting, a warm drink held in both hands, a blanket and the company of someone you feel safe with.

Warmth and connection are two of the quickest ways to help the nervous system settle. Warmth relaxes tense muscles, and people we trust remind our system that we are not facing life alone.

8. Listen To Your Body's Language, A Lesson From Asia

A few times a day, pause and scan from your head to your toes. Is your jaw clenched? Are your shoulders raised? Is your stomach tight? Simply notice, then soften each area in turn.

Remember that anxiety often speaks through the body before it ever becomes a thought. By noticing tension early, you catch the alarm while it is still quiet, rather than when it is ringing loudly. Over time, this stops anxiety building silently in the background.

These strategies can bring real relief, and they are worth practising daily. If your anxiety has been with you for a long time, though, lasting change comes from working with the root cause, the unconscious beliefs and old nervous system responses underneath. That is the heart of the anxiety therapy we do together.

Many of the things that feed anxiety around the world, the weather, the economy, the news, sit well outside our control. Our Circle of Control and Influence workbook helps you sort what you can change from what you cannot, so your energy goes where it can actually make a difference.

Circle Of Control And Influence Workbook

Download our FREE workbook to focus your energy on what you can actually change and reduce anxiety.

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Our Client's Experience

A client came to us after moving abroad for a fresh start. She had lived with anxiety for years in the UK and was convinced that sunshine, a slower pace and a new home would finally quieten it. For a few months, it did. Then the familiar racing thoughts returned, along with the tight chest and the sleepless nights, and she felt as though she had failed.

As we worked together online, the picture became clearer. Her anxiety had never really been about the weather or the busy commute. Growing up, she had learnt that she needed to stay one step ahead of everything to keep herself and others safe. Her parents loved her dearly and were doing their very best, yet that early lesson had become a belief her unconscious mind held onto, and her nervous system had been acting on it ever since. The move changed the scenery, but the pattern travelled with her.

The calming habits she had picked up abroad, long walks, more daylight and slower evenings, genuinely helped. They settled the surface. The deeper change came from the therapy work, gently updating that old belief and teaching her nervous system that she no longer needed to stay on guard. Within a few months she noticed she was sleeping through the night again. She told us the biggest relief was realising she could feel safe right where she was.

Here is what Austin shared on Google about his own experience:

"Jenny has been the one who has completely unlocked the deep rooted causes for a lot of the adult coping mechanisms that have plagued me for so many years." - Austin

★★★★★

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If You Would Like Further Support

Wherever you live, and however your anxiety shows up, your experience is real and it deserves to be heard. The strategies here will give you relief in the moment. When you are ready to understand why your nervous system learnt to respond this way, and to settle it at the root, that is exactly the work we do together. As an anxiety therapist, Jennifer works with children, teenagers and adults online across the UK and worldwide, in our consultation room in Chelmsford, or through Walk and Talk Therapy in the Essex countryside.

You do not need to struggle alone. Now is the right time to take back control of your life and free yourself from those anxious thoughts.

Ready To Get Support?

Book a free consultation call and take the first step towards calming anxiety at its root.

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Prefer to talk? Call us on 07503 067941

Can Anxiety Lead To More Serious Issues?

Left unaddressed, long held anxiety can gradually wear us down. A nervous system that stays on high alert for months or years can affect our sleep, our digestion, our energy and our relationships. Many of us start avoiding situations that feel uncomfortable, and our world quietly shrinks.

If you notice new or persistent physical symptoms, such as chest pain, dizziness or ongoing stomach problems, please see your GP so that anything else can be ruled out. Once it has, you can turn your attention to the nervous system pattern underneath with real confidence.

Here is what K shared on Google:

"I feel equipped and in control of situations with the tools and knowledge Jennifer has provided me with. I have so much more enjoyment now in different aspects of my life that previously would have made me anxious." - K

★★★★★

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Take The Next Step

You do not need to move anywhere to feel calmer. Book a free consultation call and let us help you settle anxiety at the source.

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Additional Resources To Ease Anxiety Wherever You Live

If you would like to explore further, here are nine of our most helpful articles, videos and free workbooks. Pick the one that feels most relevant to where you are right now.

Read

• What Causes Anxiety? - Understand how anxious patterns are learnt, and why they can be unlearnt.
• Could Our Own Anxiety Make Our Children Anxious? - How anxiety passes through families, and how to break the cycle.
• Understanding And Managing Seasonal Affective Disorder - Why the darker months can leave our nervous system feeling more on edge.

Watch

• Understanding Fight And Flight - A clear explanation of what is happening in your body when anxiety strikes.
• How To Reduce Anxiety Immediately - Simple in the moment ways to calm your nervous system.
• More Anxiety Relief Videos - A whole library of calming guidance on Jennifer's channel.

Free Workbooks

• Wheel Of Life Workbook - See which area of life is fuelling your anxiety and bring things back into balance.
• Window Of Tolerance Workbook - Map the zone where you cope well, and notice when you are close to the edge.
• Circle Of Control And Influence Workbook - Focus your energy on what you can actually change.

If you would like to talk things through with a real person, you can book a free consultation call with an anxiety therapist nearby.

Still Have Questions?

Book a free consultation call and get clear, kind answers about what would actually help your anxiety.

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Prefer to talk? Call us on 07503 067941

FAQs About Anxiety Around The World

Which Country Has The Highest Rate Of Anxiety?

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study place Portugal at or near the top, with Malta, Brazil, the Netherlands, the UK and Australia also among the highest. Higher numbers also reflect how openly anxiety is talked about.

Why Is Anxiety Lower In Some Countries?

In some cultures anxiety is more likely to be expressed through physical symptoms such as headaches, dizziness or stomach upset, and less likely to be named or reported as anxiety. Community ties, pace of life and how surveys are carried out also play a part.

Is Anxiety Increasing Around The World?

In many countries, yes. Surveys in England, Sweden and the Netherlands all show anxiety rising over the last decade. Busier lives, money worries and loneliness all play a part, and more of us are also speaking up about it.

Is Anxiety Worse In The UK Than In Other Countries?

The UK sits among the countries with higher estimated rates of anxiety, alongside much of Western Europe and Australia. This reflects both greater openness about mental health and pressures such as long working hours, money worries and dark winters.

Can Anxiety Show Up As Physical Symptoms?

Yes. Anxiety often appears in the body as headaches, dizziness, stomach upset, tight shoulders, a racing heart or poor sleep. Please check any new symptoms with your GP, and then consider whether anxiety could be playing a part.

Is Anxiety Genetic Or Learnt?

Anxiety often runs in families, but this is largely because it is learnt. Children pick up on how the adults around them respond to stress and uncertainty, and their nervous system learns to respond in the same way. The good news is that what has been learnt can be unlearnt.

Would Moving Somewhere Else Help My Anxiety?

A change of scene can bring short term relief, but anxiety usually travels with us because it lives in our unconscious beliefs and nervous system patterns rather than in a place. Lasting change comes from working with that root cause, which can be done wherever you live.

When Is World Mental Health Day?

World Mental Health Day takes place every year on 10 October. It is a lovely reminder to talk openly about how we are really doing, and to check in with the people we care about.

Originally posted: October 2026 | Last updated: October 2026