More than four times as many prescriptions for anti-depressants were dispensed in England in 2009 than 18 years before, according to newly-published figures.

Some 39.1 million prescriptions were given out two years ago compared with nine million in 1991, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in the latest issue of its study, Social Trends.

In 2009/10 in England, more than one in 10 people (10.9 per cent) were diagnosed with depression, while the condition affected 11.5 per cent of the population of Northern Ireland, 8.6 per cent in Scotland and 7.9 per cent in Wales.

In England, in 2007, around one in six adults (17.6 per cent) met the diagnostic criteria for at least one common mental disorder (CMD). These are mental conditions that cause marked emotional distress and interfere with daily function, such as different types of depression and anxiety.

Women are more likely than men to have a CMD (21.5 per cent and 13.6 per cent respectively).

Mental health problems can ultimately lead people to commit suicide – however, between 1991 and 2009, suicides in the UK fell among all adult age groups, and both males and females.

In 1991, 4,670 males committed suicide and this decreased by 7.9 per cent to 4,300 in 2009; among females, suicides fell 16.7 per cent from 1,650 in 1991 to 1,370 in 2009.

Social Trends confirms that life expectancy continues to rise. In 2009 in the UK, males at birth could expect to live more than 78 years and females more than 82 years. In both cases this is 20 years more than in 1930.