Nearly 2.5 million people in England are estimated to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including those undiagnosed, according to new NHS England figures.
This is the very first publicly available estimate of the condition’s prevalence among the population.
Of the estimated 2,498,000 total, about 741,000 are children and young people aged five to 24.
These figures were developed using estimates from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which suggests that around 3-4% of adults and 5% of children and young people have ADHD.
This new data also suggests that more than half a million people (549,000) in England were waiting for an ADHD assessment at the end of March 2025 – up from 416,000 a year earlier at the end of March 2024.
In light of these new figures, we spoke to…