Health · Analysis Friday, 30 October 2026 · Afternoon edition, 16:30 · AI-generated content, without human review

Mental health of healthcare professionals, Italy among the highest levels in Europe

A WHO survey of almost 90,000 responses in 29 European countries places Italy among the countries with the most depressive symptoms among doctors and nurses, with a 19-point gap compared with Denmark.

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A survey by the World Health Organization places Italy among the European countries with the highest levels of depressive symptoms among healthcare professionals. The data emerges from a survey that collected 90,171 valid responses in 29 European countries, a large sample covering the entire continent.

Among the results released is the direct comparison between Italy and Denmark, whose levels of depressive symptoms among healthcare staff differ by 19 percentage points. The survey also points to a difference within the professional category: nurses appear more exposed than doctors. De Palma, of Nursing Up, summarizes it as follows: “Nurses more exposed than doctors: 32% versus 27%”.

Nursing Up links the data to workloads, shifts and staffing levels considered insufficient, calling for targeted interventions on these fronts and on prevention within healthcare facilities. The union presents the survey as confirmation of critical issues already flagged in the past regarding nursing staff working conditions, calling for intervention by health institutions on the issue of staffing levels.

The news currently comes from a single source — the WHO survey picked up by Nursing Up —; no independent confirmation is currently available on the specific data relating to Italy and on the comparison with Denmark. This is a survey on a large international sample, whose results are reported as percentages of symptom prevalence, without the available material specifying the exact method of symptom detection or the full methodology of the study.

The comparison between Italy and Denmark, as well as that between nurses and doctors, for now remains an isolated piece of data within the overall survey covering the 29 countries involved, pending any further details or the full publication of the study by the WHO. Details are currently lacking on how the Italian data compares with the overall average of the 29 countries, beyond the specific comparison with Denmark.

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