Sweden: more than 116,000 young people aged 10 to 17 estimated to have an ADHD diagnosis

More than 116,000 children and young people aged 10 to 17 in Sweden were estimated to have an ADHD diagnosis in 2025. The figure comes from a new report by Socialstyrelsen, Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare, and was reported by the Swedish public broadcaster SVT Nyheter.

According to the agency, that is about 14% of boys and just over 9% of girls in that age group. SVT reports that ADHD diagnoses among children and young people are still going up.

What officials say is behind the rise

Socialstyrelsen is the Swedish government agency that collects national health data. Lars Almroth is its director of health and medical care. He told SVT that diagnosis may now happen at a different threshold than before. In our translation from Swedish, he said:

“We know that diagnosis perhaps happens on somewhat milder symptoms today compared with a couple of years ago.”

That is worth noticing. If he is right, part of the increase may reflect changes in how and when ADHD is recognised, not simply a change in children themselves.

A warning about overlap with depression

SVT also spoke to Pär Höglund, a senior consultant in BUP, Region Stockholm’s child and adolescent mental health service (roughly the Swedish equivalent of CAMHS in the UK). He said there are many overlapping experiences, such as difficulty concentrating and trouble sleeping, that can be signs of both ADHD and depression. In our translation, he said clinicians “can go too quickly down the ADHD track, when it could be depression”.

He told SVT that too much focus on ADHD risks crowding out other diagnoses. SVT’s report describes these as more serious.

Fewer new depression and anxiety diagnoses, but with a caveat

The same report found that new diagnoses of depression and anxiety among 10 to 17-year-olds have fallen since 2021. SVT’s report gives one possible explanation. Many young people seeking help for anxiety and depression are seen in primary care, and diagnoses made there are not yet recorded in Socialstyrelsen’s national patient register. So the national figures may not show the full picture.

Höglund told SVT he is not fully convinced that young people are actually feeling better. Almroth said it was necessary to look behind the numbers, because they go against the widely shared story of rising mental ill-health among young people.

Reading the headline with care

SVT’s headline calls this an ADHD “boom”. Words like that can make rising diagnosis numbers sound like a problem with the children being diagnosed. The report itself, as SVT describes it, points to more complicated questions: how diagnostic thresholds are changing, which services record which diagnoses, and how clinicians tell apart experiences that can look alike.

For ADHD young people and their families, the main concern raised here is about getting a careful, accurate assessment. That means one that recognises ADHD where it is present and notices other needs too, such as low mood. SVT’s report does not suggest that ADHD diagnoses are being given wrongly in general, and it does not report any planned change to assessment practice.

SVT does not say what Socialstyrelsen or regional services will do next with the findings. Almroth said it was particularly interesting to try to understand what is happening.

This piece summarises reporting by SVT Nyheter. Read the original article for the full story.