Eating disorders are more common than most people realize. In the United States alone, roughly 1 in 20 adults will experience a clinically significant eating disorder at some point in their life, and rates have climbed sharply in recent years, particularly among young people. These conditions also carry serious health consequences: eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness, behind only opioid addiction.
Prevalence by Type of Eating Disorder
Not all eating disorders occur at the same rate. Binge eating disorder is by far the most common, with a lifetime prevalence of 2.8% among U.S. adults. That means nearly 3 out of every 100 people will meet the diagnostic criteria at some point. Bulimia nervosa affects about 1.0% of adults over a lifetime, while anorexia nervosa, despite being the most widely recognized eating disorder, is the least common of the three at 0.6%.
A newer category called avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is drawing increasing attention. ARFID goes beyond “picky eating” and involves persistent avoidance of food based on texture, sensory characteristics, or fear of negative consequences like choking. Prevalence estimates vary widely depending on study quality. A recent meta-analysis of over 120,000 people found rates ranging from about 4.5% to 11%, with higher-quality studies landing at the lower end. Hospitalizations for ARFID have risen substantially since tracking began in 2015, and unlike other eating disorders, those numbers continued climbing even as overall eating disorder hospitalizations dipped slightly in 2022.
The Surge Among Children and Teens
The most dramatic shift in eating disorder prevalence has occurred among young people. Adolescent hospitalizations for eating disorders increased more than sevenfold between 2010 and 2021, rising from 294 to 2,135 across a large U.S. hospital network. That’s an average increase of about 131 additional hospitalizations per year. The trend was already climbing before COVID-19, but the pandemic accelerated it sharply.
Health visits for eating disorders among children under 17 more than doubled between 2018 and 2022. Clinicians at major children’s hospitals report that the post-pandemic numbers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. According to specialists at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, current caseloads remain close to what they experienced during the height of the pandemic, suggesting the increase is not a temporary spike but a sustained shift.
Who Is Affected: Gender and Ethnicity
The stereotype of eating disorders affecting only young, white women is outdated and harmful. Boys and men account for about one-third of all eating disorder diagnoses, yet they are far less likely to be screened, identified, or referred for treatment. The perception that these are exclusively female conditions creates a barrier that delays care for millions of men and boys.
Racial and ethnic disparities in eating disorder rates are significant, and they run counter to common assumptions. Hispanic and Latina young women report notably higher rates of unhealthy weight control behaviors (82.4%) and binge eating (31.1%) during adolescence compared to women of other backgrounds. Black and African American women show a steady rise in disordered eating from adolescence into adulthood, reaching rates roughly 20% higher than white women by adulthood.
Among men, the differences are equally striking. Hispanic and Latino young men report binge eating at rates up to ten times higher than men from other racial and ethnic groups during both adolescence and adulthood. Asian American men also show elevated rates of unhealthy weight control behaviors compared to white and Black men. These patterns suggest that eating disorders are not only widespread across demographic groups but may be systematically under-detected in communities where clinicians aren’t looking for them.
Mortality and Severity
The frequency of eating disorders matters partly because of how dangerous they are. One person dies as a direct consequence of an eating disorder roughly every 52 minutes in the United States. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among people with an eating disorder diagnosis, reflecting the severe psychological toll these conditions carry alongside their physical effects. Malnutrition, heart complications, and organ damage account for much of the remaining mortality, particularly in restrictive disorders like anorexia nervosa.
The Economic Toll
Eating disorders impose costs well beyond the individual. A comprehensive analysis led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in collaboration with the Academy for Eating Disorders and Deloitte Access Economics, found that untreated eating disorders cost the U.S. billions of dollars annually. Those costs include not just direct treatment expenses but also lost productivity, informal caregiving burdens, and broader societal losses. The economic picture reinforces what the prevalence data already suggests: eating disorders are a large-scale public health problem, not a rare or niche concern.
Why the Numbers Are Likely Undercounted
Every statistic above is almost certainly an underestimate. Eating disorders are significantly under-diagnosed for several reasons. Many people with disordered eating never seek treatment, either because they don’t recognize their behavior as a disorder or because of shame and stigma. Screening tools in primary care settings remain inconsistent, and clinicians often fail to assess patients who don’t fit the expected profile, particularly men, older adults, and people of color. The true prevalence of eating disorders across all forms is likely considerably higher than what current surveys capture.