Mindfulness and meditation statistics

Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment on purpose. Meditation covers a wider set of practices that train attention, and many people learn mindfulness through it.

No worldwide survey counts how many people meditate, so these figures come from national surveys and from reviews of clinical trials. Each figure shows its source, the period it covers, and when we last checked it.

What reviews of trials show

These figures come from reviews that pooled many randomised trials. They describe how much programmes helped the people who took part, not how many people meditate.

• In adult clinical populations, a review found moderate evidence that mindfulness meditation programmes improved anxiety after eight weeks compared with active controls (effect size 0.38). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2014, checked 9 Oct 2026) ³
• In adult clinical populations, a review found moderate evidence that mindfulness meditation programmes improved depression after eight weeks compared with active controls (effect size 0.30). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2014, checked 9 Oct 2026) ³
• For adults outside clinical settings, mindfulness programmes improved anxiety on average in most but not all scenarios, one to six months after the programme, compared with no programme (standardised mean difference -0.56). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2021, checked 9 Oct 2026) ⁴
• Across trials, people with recurrent depression who had mindfulness-based cognitive therapy had a lower risk of relapse than those who did not, within sixty weeks (hazard ratio 0.69). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2016, checked 9 Oct 2026) ²
• People with recurrent depression who had mindfulness-based cognitive therapy had a lower risk of relapse within sixty weeks than those given other active treatments, including antidepressants (hazard ratio 0.79). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2016, checked 9 Oct 2026) ²

North America

The United States figures come from the National Health Interview Survey, which interviews people at home. Canada's figure covers one week early in the pandemic and counts meditation for health reasons only.

• In 2022, 17.3% of adults in the United States used meditation, the most used of the seven complementary health approaches the analysis looked at. (survey, 2022 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ¹
• In 2002, 7.5% of adults in the United States used meditation, according to the national health interview survey. (survey, 2002 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ¹
• In 2017, 16.3% of women in the United States had used meditation in the past twelve months. (survey, past 12 months, 2017 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ⁵
• In 2017, 11.8% of men in the United States had used meditation in the past twelve months. (survey, past 12 months, 2017 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ⁵
• In one week early in the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, 26.3% of Canadians said they were practising meditation for their health. (survey, 2020 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ⁶

South America

Brazil's national health survey asked whether people had used meditation as a health treatment, alongside other complementary practices.

• In the national health survey of 2019, 0.7% of adults in Brazil said they had used meditation as a health treatment in the past twelve months. (survey, past 12 months, 2019 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ⁷

Europe

Germany's figures come from a national survey. The British figure comes from an online poll, weighted to match the adult population, that asked whether people had learnt mindfulness.

• In a national survey in 2018, 15.1% of people in Germany aged fourteen and over had ever practised meditation. (survey, lifetime (ever), 2018 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ⁸
• In a national survey in 2018, 6.6% of people in Germany aged fourteen and over were practising meditation at the time. (survey, at one point in time, 2018 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ⁸
• In an online poll in 2021, weighted to match the adult population, 16% of adults in Britain said they had learnt to practise mindfulness. (survey, lifetime (ever), 2021 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ⁹

Oceania

These figures come from one online survey of adults in Australia and New Zealand, drawn from online panels with quotas set to match each population.

• In an online survey run in 2023-2024, 32.8% of adults in Australia said they had used meditation in the past twelve months. (survey, past 12 months, 2023-2024 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ¹⁰
• In an online survey in 2023-2024, 41.5% of adults in Australia said they had used meditation at some point in their lives. (survey, lifetime (ever), 2023-2024 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ¹⁰
• In an online survey in 2023-2024, 24.9% of adults in New Zealand said they had used meditation in the past twelve months. (survey, past 12 months, 2023-2024 data, checked 9 Oct 2026) ¹⁰

National figures side by side

The surveys asked different questions over different periods, and some used online panels, so read each row with its label rather than ranking countries.

How to read these figures

Survey figures count people. Some surveys asked about the past twelve months, some asked whether people had ever meditated, and Canada's asked about a single week. Brazil's survey counted only meditation used as a health treatment, so its figure is not directly comparable with the others.

Some surveys choose people at random, including the United States interview survey and Canada's panel. The British and Australian surveys used online panels that people sign up to, and weighting to the population cannot fully correct for who chooses to join.

Trial figures compare people who took part in a programme with another group, which had either no programme or another treatment. A larger effect size means a bigger difference between the groups. A negative standardised mean difference means lower anxiety scores in the group that took part. A hazard ratio below one means a lower risk of relapse in the group that had the therapy.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has good evidence for preventing relapse in people who have had repeated episodes of depression. If you want to explore it, a therapist can help you decide whether it suits you. Our guide on how to find the right therapist explains what to look for.

Cite this page: TherapyRoute. Mindfulness and meditation statistics. https://www.therapyroute.com/article/mindfulness-and-meditation-2025-statistics-by-therapyroute. Last updated 9 October 2026.

References

1. [1] NIH analysis reveals a significant rise in use of complementary health approaches, especially for pain management. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH), January 2024 nccih.nih.gov.
2. [2] Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse: An Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis From Randomized Trials. JAMA Psychiatry (Kuyken et al.), 2016 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
3. [3] Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine (Goyal et al.), 2014 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
4. [4] Mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in adults in nonclinical settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. PLOS Medicine (Galante et al.), 2021 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
5. [5] Use of Yoga, Meditation, and Chiropractors Among U.S. Adults Aged 18 and Over. Clarke TC, Barnes PM, Black LI, Stussman BJ, Nahin RL. National Center for Health Statistics, NCHS Data Brief No. 325, November 2018 cdc.gov.
6. [6] Self-perceived mental health and health-related behaviours of Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gilmour H. Statistics Canada, 2020 www150.statcan.gc.ca.
7. [7] Prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine use in Brazil: results of the National Health Survey, 2019. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies (Boccolini et al.), 2022 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
8. [8] Meditation in Deutschland: Eine national repräsentative Umfrage. Complementary Medicine Research (Cramer H.), 2019 karger.com.
9. [9] Mindfulness meditation use in Britain during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLOS ONE (Simonsson and Fisher), 2024 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
10. [10] Prevalence and predictors of meditation use in Australia and New Zealand: results from a nationally representative survey. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies (Davies et al.), 2025 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.