Our previous BIPOC-focused blog post focused a bit on the disparities in the access to quality mental health coverage between whites and members of the BIPOC community. This time, we want to give you a very brief and high-level overview of real numbers as published by Mental Health America.
If you’re interested, we have published this same information on our Instagram here.
As part of BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to share some high-level statistics that will help to scratch the surface in terms of WHY we observe this month and WHY it’s so important to look at mental health within the BIPOC community.
Mental Health America, the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all, published the following BIPOC mental health-focused statistics in preparation for the month of July 2020:
- Black/African American Community: 6.8 million people have a mental illness.
- This equates to 17% of the total Black/African American population.
- Latinx/Hispanic American Community: 8.9 million people have a mental illness.
- This equates to 15% of the total Latinx/Hispanic American population.
- Asian American/Pacific Islander Community: 2.2 million people have a mental illness.
- This equates to 13% of the total Asian American/Pacific Islander population.
- Native and Indigenous Communities: 830,000 people have a mental illness.
- This equates to 23% of the total Native and Indigenous Peoples population.
There is a wealth of more knowledge to be had at Mental Health America and we encourage you to check them out -- they even have a BIPOC Mental Health hub on their official website.