ADHD diagnoses surge as Estonia debates where disorder begins

More than 20 times as many people aged 15 and older were diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Estonia in 2025 as in 2020, ERR reports. The diagnosis is based on a doctor’s assessment, not a blood test or brain scan, and can reflect a person’s psychological traits, living environment and society’s expectations.

According to the Institute for Health Development, 3,961 people aged 15 and older received a new ADHD diagnosis in 2025, compared with 169 in 2020. Among children under 15, new diagnoses rose from 442 to 1,026 over the same period, more than doubling.

The balance between age groups has also shifted. In 2019, children outnumbered young people and adults receiving new diagnoses six to one. In 2021, the older group overtook children; by 2025, it was nearly four times larger.

More than 13,000 people saw a psychiatrist for ADHD in 2025, almost four times the number five years earlier. Since 1999, about 28,000 people have received an initial ADHD diagnosis, with more than half of those diagnoses made in the past five years.

The rise has fuelled opposing interpretations. One view is that ADHD is a distinct disorder that doctors have become better at recognising. Another is that medicine is labelling ordinary distractibility, which can be a problem for schools and employers.

Matthew Smith, a professor of health history at the University of Strathclyde who has written a book on ADHD’s history, said both interpretations could be valid at the same time. The distinction depends in part on how a diagnosis is made, he wrote to ERR’s Novaator science outlet.

At a seminar earlier this year, Jaanus Harro, a professor of psychophysiology at the University of Tartu, jokingly asked the audience to raise their hands if they did not have ADHD. Only a few did. Harro said others seemed unsure how to answer or had already received a diagnosis.

ADHD was once widely associated mainly with child psychiatrists and restless boys in classrooms. In recent years, it has become a prominent topic in adult mental health care and public discussion, from social media to parliament. The disorder has biological roots, but the boundary between human variation and a disorder is not clearly set by nature, the article says.