The severity of depressive symptoms among players in different countries

Do Goodville players from different countries differ in the severity of their depressive symptoms? To answer this question, we did a comparative study of the players' responses in 41 countries using the PHQ-8 questionnaire integrated into the Goodville game, which assesses the presence and severity of depression among the players. The results of the study are shown in the figure below.

The figure shows the average results received from the player populations of different countries using the PHQ-8 survey. The minimum population size was at least 1,000 respondents, the maximum was 128,000 players. So, how were players from different countries grouped based on the severity of their depressive symptoms? Players from the Philippines, Mexico, and Argentina are, reportedly, the least depressed. Players from Switzerland, Singapore, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United States, New Zealand, Belgium, and Austria show slightly more depressive symptoms.

In third place in terms of severity of depression are players from Germany, Canada, France, Russia, Australia, Belarus, Ukraine, Spain, Malaysia, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Sweden, India, Romania and Norway. The tendency to increased severity of depressive symptoms was noticed among the players of Hungary, Japan, Thailand, Brazil, Greece, South Korea, and Serbia (4th place). Players in the UK, Israel, Italy, Iran, Poland, Turkey, and Vietnam reported to be the most depressed (5th place).

We would like to note that the differences in the severity of depression between most countries are not clearly defined, but mostly smooth. Significant differences can be seen between the countries with the lowest depression severity (Philippines, Mexico, Argentina, Switzerland, Singapore) and those with the highest severity of depressive symptoms (Vietnam, Turkey, Poland, Iran, Italy).