FAQ: ADHD statistics (England)
Frequently Asked Questions about ADHD statistics in England, including prevalence, waiting lists, and waiting times.
NHS Digital have estimated that around 2.5 million people in England have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as of February 2026. This includes those without a formal diagnosis and is based on prevalence data from NICE who suggest that around 3-4% of adults and 5% of children and young people have ADHD.
Of these, around 618,000, or 24.7%, are estimated to be children and young people aged zero to 17. The chart below shows the age distribution of these estimates.
Source: NHS Digital, ADHD Management Information - NHS England Digital
Please note that these figures were calculated by applying national prevalence rates to patient populations. They should therefore only be understood as estimates and treated with caution.
Local estimates are not possible due to the uncertainty around this data.
How many new referrals are there for ADHD assessments?There were 18,915 new referrals for a possible ADHD assessment recorded in December 2025 in England. Over a third of these (39.4%, or 7,440) were referrals for children and young people aged zero to 17.
This is an indication of how many people may be waiting for an ADHD assessment but is likely an undercount as submissions are still evolving and work is being done to improve data quality. More information is available from NHS Digital’s notes on data quality.
How large are waiting lists for ADHD assessments?As at the end of December 2025, there were 562,480 open referrals for a possible ADHD diagnosis in England. 70.6% of these, or 397,255, were for adults and 29.4%, or 165,195, were for children and young people, aged zero to 17.
An additional 172,677 people aged five to 24 may be waiting for an ADHD assessment who were referred through Community Health Services where a breakdown by age is not available.
This suggests that up to 735,157 people may have been waiting for an ADHD assessment at the end of December 2025.
How much have waiting lists for ADHD assessments grown over time?Data on open referrals for possible ADHD assessments is available from NHS Digital back to 2019. However, because the number of providers submitting information has increased over time and not all independent providers submit data regularly, it is not possible to compare waiting list sizes meaningfully over time.
NHS Digital have indicated that their ADHD management information publication will move to official statistics standards in 2026/27, at which point it may be possible to begin comparing waiting list sizes over time.
How long are people waiting for an ADHD assessment?At the end of December 2025, around 10.2% of adults and 9% of children had been on the waiting list for less than 13 weeks. Around 6 in 10 adults (61.6%) and two thirds of children (65.8%) had been on a waiting list for over a year.
The chart below shows the proportion of children and adults waiting for a possible ADHD assessment by waiting time in England.
Source: NHS Digital, ADHD Management Information - NHS England Digital
What are waiting times like in my area?These statistics are still in development and there are currently no sub-national figures available. This article will be updated should this change.
How often is this data updated?This information is based on a new NHS Digital publication and is still in development. New data is published every quarter, and this article will be updated in line with new releases.