Americans’ self-reported mental and physical health tied historic lows in Gallup polling released Thursday, reflecting a decadelong decline that fell fast during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among adults responding to a survey last year, just 31% described their mental health as excellent, tying 2022’s historic low in annual surveys going back to 2001.
As for their physical health, 24% called it excellent, tying a low mark recorded in 2023.
Overall, the share of adults rating their mental health as excellent or good dropped from a historic high of 89% in 2012 to 75% last year. The share who gave their physical health the same ratings dropped from a 24-year high of 82% in 2012 to 76% in 2024.
In a summary of the findings, the polling company cited a “significant increase” in self-reported obesity for the declines in physical health and a rise in young women reporting emotional problems for “dampened mental health ratings since 2020.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have been a turning point in Americans’ perceptions of their mental and physical health, compounding declines already underway,” said Lydia Saad, Gallup’s director of social research.
Ms. Saad noted that only 15% of women ages 18-29 claimed excellent mental health in the annual survey from 2020 to 2024, down 33 points from the 48% who said the same in surveys from 2010 to 2014 and declining faster since the pandemic.
She pointed to a separate Gallup poll that found healthy eating declined during pandemic restrictions, as self-reported obesity jumped from 32.4% of adults in 2019 to a record-high 39.9% in 2022. The reading dipped slightly to 38.4% in 2023.
Ms. Saad emphasized “heightened anxiety brought on by the COVID-19 crisis” as a key factor in people’s worsening health issues.
Gallup conducted a randomized national telephone survey of 1,001 adults from Nov. 6-20. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
