Depression is the second most common cause of disability worldwide after back pain, according to a review of research.
The disease must be treated as a global public health priority, experts report in the journal PLOS Medicine.
The study compared clinical depression with more than 200 other diseases and injuries as a cause of disability.
Depression was ranked at number two as a global cause of disability, but its impact varied in different countries and regions. For example, rates of major depression were highest in Afghanistan and lowest in Japan. In the UK, depression was ranked at number three in terms of years lived with a disability.
Dr Alize Ferrari from the University of Queensland’s School of Population Health led the study.
"Depression is a big problem and we definitely need to pay more attention to it than we are now," she told BBC News.
The data—for the year 2010—follows similar studies in 1990 and 2000 looking at the global burden of depression.
Commenting on the study, Dr Daniel Chisholm, a health economist at the department for mental health and substance abuse at the World Health Organization said depression was a very disabling condition.
"It’s a big public health challenge and a big problem to be reckoned with but not enough is being done.
"Around the world only a tiny proportion of people get any sort of treatment or diagnosis."
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