CANBERRA, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Mental illness is costing Australia more than 7 billion Australian dollars (5 billion U.S. dollars) per year in welfare payments alone, a report has found.
The Productivity Commission on Tuesday revealed that welfare payments for those with mental health conditions and their carers totalled 7.3 billion Australian dollars (5.2 billion U.S. dollars) in financial year 2016-17.
The total spend on mental health by state and federal governments in that period was more than 16 billion Australian dollars (11.45 billion U.S. dollars).
The Productivity Commission has been commissioned by Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to investigate the economic impacts of psychological illnesses.
"560,000 children and adolescents have a mental illness and this can impact on their ability to get a job," according to Australia's Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher.
Inquiry from the Productivity Commission found that there has been no significant reduction in the death rate from suicide over the last decade, despite ongoing efforts to make suicide prevention policies more effective.
It noted that, in addition to the government spent, mental health patients paid 600 million Australian dollars (429 million U.S. dollars) out of their own pockets on psychologists and prescription drugs in 2016-17.
"Between 2001 and 2014, the share of Disability Support Pension recipients receiving the payment due to mental illness grew from 23 percent to 34 percent," the commission found.
"A key challenge is that of providing appropriate support to people whose condition (or caring responsibilities) are episodic in nature, as their capacity to work may be highly variable," the commission added.
