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Fri 09 Sep 2008Mental health problems cost €3bn
MENTAL HEALTH problems cost the economy more than €3 billion in 2006, or 2 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP), a new report has found. Meanwhile, the percentage of health funding spent on mental health services has halved since the 1980s.
The main costs to the economy were not in the health system, as might be expected. They were found to be in the labour market as a result of lost employment, absenteeism, lost productivity and premature retirement. Mental health problems also imposed costs on the prison service and the social services dealing with homelessness. And they led to lost output and productivity.
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