It is estimated that ADHD prevalence is between 2% and 7% of the population globally, with an average of 5%. A further 5% of children experience difficulties with symptoms and behaviours that are just below the threshold for meeting full diagnostic criteria for ADHD. However, depending on the criteria used, childhood prevalence may range from 3%-9%.^1,7

In the UK, around 2.6 million people have ADHD, of whom more than 760,000 are children or teenagers.⁸

Analysis of long-term UK data has shown that diagnoses have risen significantly, with a 20-fold increase between 2000 and 2018. Prescribing for ADHD has also risen over the same period; in the case of young men (aged 18-29), this was 50-fold. As this data is derived from primary care records, this will be an under-estimate.^9,10

The data analysis found that males are more likely to be diagnosed than females. By 2018, the proportion of ADHD diagnoses was 255 per 10,000 in boys and 67.7 per 10,000 in girls; for adults, it was 74.3 per 10,000 in men and 20 per 10,000 in women.¹⁰

ADHD diagnoses are about two times higher in the most socioeconomically deprived areas.⁹