Korea is taking some good steps towards improving care for mental disorders. The Mental Health
Promotion Comprehensive Plan outlines an intention of improving the efficacy of hospital treatment,
promoting early discharge and expanding community and rehabilitative facilities.
Nonetheless, improvements will demand investment in the right kind of mental health services.
Excluding dementia, public mental health expenditure in Korea was just 3%; to secure a high-quality
mental health system, Korea will likely have to increase spending on mental health. Increased
-50.0 -31.3 -12.5 6.3 25.0 43.8 62.5 81.3 100.0
Estonia
Slovenia
Switzerland
Iceland
Hungary
Luxembourg
Austria
Finland
Denmark
Spain
Slovak Republic
Australia
Germany
Italy
France
Czech Republic
Ireland
Greece
OECD
Japan
Sweden
United Kingdom
Canada
Poland
New Zealand
Norway
Netherlands
Israel
United States
Mexico
Chile
Portugal
Korea
% change in suicide rates per 100 000 population
spending should be directed at services outside of hospitals; at present Korea spends 66.4% of the
mental health budget in hospitals, which perpetuates reliance on inpatient care.
Making Mental Health Count found that in most OECD countries treatment for mild-to-moderate
disorders such as depression is under developed. Korea is no exception. Korea should seriously
consider making psychological therapies widely available, for example in the outpatient clinic or
community facilities, and could follow examples such as the United Kingdom’s Improving Access to
Psychological Therapies programme or Australia’s Better Access services, both of which increase
availability of evidence-based therapies for mild and moderate mental illnesses.