Britain amongst the most depressed and anxious countries in the world, search data suggests

The UK is among the most depressed and anxious countries in the world, new data from Google searches suggests.

The country is at seventh place worldwide for searches about depression - and comes in just two places below Iran.

Only Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Iran and Canada came in higher in data released by the search giant.

The rest of the top ten were the United States, Chile and South Africa.

An inforgraphic showing frequency of searches on depression worldwide. Credit: Google trends

Britain also came in at sixth place for searches on anxiety, with only Australia, the US, Canada, Ireland and Puerto Rico placing higher.

Many people appeared to be searching for details or advice on the conditions.

Among the most popular searches linked to the two terms nationally were "postpartum depression", "how to deal with anxiety" and "how to help someone with depression".

An inforgraphic showing frequency of searches on anxiety worldwide. Credit: Google trends

Within the UK, the elite university city of Oxford and Cambridge registered some of the highest searches for depression, anxiety and stress.

Brighton had the highest number of searches, with Belfast, Oxford, Cambridge and Norwich also among the top areas.

Areas with the most searches for 'depression'

Areas with the most searches for 'anxiety'

Data also showed that searches on anxiety within the UK has risen steadily from 2004 to the present, and are now almost on a par with those for depression.

At the start of the data, there were around three times as many searches for depression as for anxiety. But they are now virtually on a par.

Areas with the most searches for 'stress'