Workplace stress is measured in several different ways, from a previous-day emotion to self-reported work-related ill health. The figures below keep those definitions, populations, periods and geographies separate so that broad prevalence, impacts and costs are not mistaken for one clinical rate.
Key Workplace Stress Statistics
The most quotable figures span daily stress, reported impacts, work-related ill health and broader mental-health burden:
- In 2025, 40% of employees worldwide experienced stress during a lot of the previous day.
- In 2025, 43% of female employees worldwide experienced daily stress, compared with 39% of male employees.
- In 2025, 45% of managers worldwide experienced daily stress, compared with 39% of individual contributors.
- In 2025, 46% of hybrid employees worldwide experienced daily stress.
- In 2025, 50% of employees in the United States and Canada region experienced daily stress.
- In 2025, 30% of employees in South Asia experienced daily stress.
- In 2023, 77% of U.S. workers reported work-related stress during the previous month.
- In 2023, 57% of U.S. workers reported at least one negative impact associated with work-related stress.
- In 2023, 31% of U.S. workers reported emotional exhaustion associated with work-related stress.
- In 2023, 20% of U.S. workers reported lower productivity associated with work-related stress.
- In 2023/24, 776,000 workers in Great Britain suffered work-related stress, depression or anxiety, new or long-standing.
- In 2023/24, 16.4 million working days were lost in Great Britain to work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
- Across 2021/22–2023/24, public administration and defence in Great Britain averaged about 4,000 cases per 100,000 workers for stress, depression or anxiety.
- In 2018, almost 70% of U.S. workers agreed that they had to work very fast.
- In 2018, 43% of U.S. workers said job demands interfered with family life.
- In 2022, 27% of workers in the EU plus Iceland and Norway reported stress, anxiety or depression caused or made worse by work.
- In 2019, 15% of working-age adults worldwide had a mental disorder, a broader measure than workplace stress.
- Depression and anxiety are estimated to account for 12 billion lost working days each year worldwide.
- Depression and anxiety are estimated to cost the global economy US$1 trillion per year in lost productivity.
Contents
- How common daily workplace stress is worldwide
- Workplace stress statistics by gender, age, job level and location
- U.S. workplace stress impacts and reported outcomes
- Great Britain stress-related ill-health cases and days lost
- Job demands, control and psychosocial risk data
- Global mental-health burden and workplace costs
How Common Daily Workplace Stress Is Worldwide
Gallup’s measure asks whether employees experienced stress “a lot” of the previous day. It is a daily emotional-experience survey measure, not a clinical diagnosis or an estimate of annual workplace-stress prevalence.
| Year | Employees worldwide reporting daily stress |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 31% |
| 2015 | 39% |
| 2018 | 37% |
| 2019 | 38% |
| 2020 | 43% |
| 2021 | 44% |
| 2022 | 44% |
| 2023 | 41% |
| 2024 | 40% |
| 2025 | 40% |
Source: State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Global Data Summary. The 2020–2022 results are pandemic-period observations and do not establish causation.
The series shows daily stress at 31% in 2009, rising to 43% in 2020 and 44% in both 2021 and 2022, before reaching 40% in 2024 and 2025. These are repeated cross-sectional survey results about the previous day, so they should not be read as a continuous cohort trend or combined with work-related clinical outcomes.
Workplace Stress Statistics by Gender, Age, Job Level and Location
Gallup’s 2025 subgroup figures show meaningful variation within the worldwide employee population, but the observational categories do not show that gender, age, management status or work location caused the difference.
| 2025 worldwide employee group | Daily stress |
|---|---|
| Female employees | 43% |
| Male employees | 39% |
| Younger than 35 | 42% |
| Aged 35 or older | 40% |
| Managers | 45% |
| Individual contributors | 39% |
Source: State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Global Data Summary. Age groups are broad, and the job-level categories are Gallup classifications.
Work location also varied in 2025. Hybrid employees and on-site, remote-capable employees each recorded 46% daily stress, compared with 41% among exclusively remote employees and 39% among on-site, non-remote-capable employees.
Regional results were not uniform. Daily stress was 50% in the United States and Canada region, 39% in Europe and 30% in South Asia; these are regional aggregates rather than country-specific estimates.
U.S. Workplace Stress Impacts and Reported Outcomes
The American Psychological Association’s 2023 Work in America survey used a one-month recall period for work-related stress. Its results are self-reported and should not be treated as clinical burnout diagnoses or employer-measured productivity losses.
In 2023, 77% of U.S. workers reported experiencing work-related stress during the previous month, while 57% reported at least one negative impact associated with that stress. Reported impacts included 31% emotional exhaustion, 26% not feeling motivated to do their very best, 25% wanting to keep to themselves, 23% wanting to quit, 20% lower productivity, 19% irritability or anger with coworkers or customers, and 18% feeling ineffective.
Source: 2023 Work in America Survey: Workplaces as engines of psychological health and well-being.
A related APA topline result found that 52% of surveyed U.S. workers disagreed that they typically feel tense or stressed during the workday. The wording measures disagreement with a statement, so it is not equivalent to saying that 52% experienced no stress.
The same 2023 topline reported that 35% disagreed that their employer provides sufficient resources to manage stress. This measures perceived employer resources, not whether a program was available, used or effective.
Source: 2023 Work in America Survey Topline Data.
Great Britain Stress-Related Ill-Health Cases and Days Lost
The Health and Safety Executive combines work-related stress, depression and anxiety in its Labour Force Survey estimates. The figures cover self-reported ill health among people who worked in the last 12 months, so they are not a stress-only clinical count.
| Great Britain measure | Period | Reported figure |
|---|---|---|
| New or long-standing cases | 2023/24 | 776,000 workers |
| New cases | 2023/24 | 300,000 workers |
| Working days lost | 2023/24 | 16.4 million days |
| Share of all new and long-standing work-related ill-health cases | 2023/24 | 46% |
| Average rate, all industries | 2021/22–2023/24 | About 2,100 per 100,000 workers |
Source: Health and safety statistics 2024: Summary statistics for Great Britain. HSE’s industry rates are three-year averages restricted to ill health in the current or most recent job.
The average rate was higher in several industries than the all-industry figure. Public administration and defence averaged about 4,000 cases per 100,000 workers, human health and social work about 3,300, and education about 2,700 across 2021/22–2023/24.
These rates describe combined stress, depression or anxiety and use different definitions from Gallup’s daily-stress measure and APA’s one-month U.S. survey. They are therefore useful for understanding work-related ill-health burden in Great Britain, not for ranking countries on a single universal stress scale.
Job Demands, Control and Psychosocial Risk Data
The CDC and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health summarize several 2018 U.S. General Social Survey Quality of Work Life measures that describe conditions associated with psychosocial risk.
- Close to 30% of U.S. workers in 2018 said they always or often found their work stressful.
- Almost 70% of U.S. workers in 2018 agreed that they had to work very fast.
- 43% of U.S. workers in 2018 perceived that job demands interfered with family life.
- About 25% of U.S. workers in 2018 believed they had no decision-making power at work.
- About 25% of U.S. workers in 2018 reported being unable to take time off when needed.
Source: An Urgent Call to Address Work-related Psychosocial Hazards and Improve Worker Well-being. These measures describe perceived pace, work-family interference, control and access to time off; they are not direct stress diagnoses.
The same CDC/NIOSH source reports that non-fatal workplace violence events increased 25% between 2015 and 2019 in the United States. Workplace violence is a psychosocial hazard, but it is not identical to workplace stress.
A 2016 study using 2014 dollars estimated direct U.S. medical costs associated with exposure to 10 work-related psychosocial hazards at $187 billion. That cost model covers the 10 hazards and is not a direct total cost of workplace stress alone.
For Europe, the 2022 OSH Pulse survey found that 27% of workers in the European Union plus Iceland and Norway reported stress, anxiety or depression caused or made worse by work. This is a combined mental-health outcome rather than a standalone stress-prevalence measure.
Source: Psychosocial risks and mental health at work.
Global Mental-Health Burden and Workplace Costs
The International Labour Organization’s policy brief provides wider context for interpreting workplace stress. These figures concern mental disorders, depression and anxiety broadly, so they should be presented as related burden rather than stress-only prevalence or cost.
About 60% of the world population was in work in the 2022 policy-brief context, and about 61% of workers worked in the informal economy. Those context estimates matter because formal workplace surveys and employer programs do not cover every worker equally.
In 2019, 15% of working-age adults worldwide had a mental disorder. The same year, an estimated 301 million people lived with anxiety and 280 million people lived with depression; these all-population estimates do not establish that work caused the condition.
Depression and anxiety are estimated to account for 12 billion lost working days each year worldwide and to cost the global economy US$1 trillion per year in lost productivity. The estimates concern depression and anxiety, not stress alone, and the cost is predominantly lost productivity.
The ILO brief also summarizes evidence that indirect costs such as reduced productivity drive about 50% of the total societal cost of mental-health conditions. That proportion applies broadly to mental-health conditions and should not be converted into a workplace-stress-only cost.
Source: Mental health at work: Policy brief.