A new International Labour Organization (ILO) report warns that more than 840,000 people die each year worldwide from health conditions linked to psychosocial risks at work, including long working hours, job insecurity, and workplace harassment. These risks are strongly associated with cardiovascular diseases and mental health disorders, including suicide, and represent a major and growing occupational health challenge.
The report also estimates that psychosocial risks lead to nearly 45 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost annually, reflecting years of healthy life lost due to illness, disability, or premature death. The associated economic burden is significant, with productivity losses estimated at around 1.37% of global GDP each year.
According to the ILO, psychosocial risks arise from how work is designed, organised, and managed. This includes job demands and resources, workload and autonomy, supervision and support, and broader workplace systems such as employment arrangements, digital monitoring, performance management, and policies to prevent violence and harassment. The report stresses that these risks are structural in nature and can be reduced through better workplace design and stronger occupational safety and health systems supported by social dialogue.
The estimate of 840,000 deaths per year is based on global data covering five key risk factors: job strain, effort–reward imbalance, job insecurity, long working hours, and workplace bullying and harassment. Researchers linked the prevalence of these risks to scientific evidence on their health impacts, including heart disease, stroke, and mental disorders. This data was then combined with global mortality and disease burden figures from the World Health Organization and the Global Burden of Disease study to calculate total deaths and health losses.
The report highlights that psychosocial risks are also associated with a wide range of other health conditions, including depression, anxiety, metabolic disorders, musculoskeletal problems, and sleep disturbances, showing the broad impact of poor working conditions on overall health.
It further notes that ongoing changes in the world of work, such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence, remote work, and evolving employment models, are reshaping psychosocial risks. While these changes can increase pressures on workers, they also offer opportunities to improve working conditions if managed effectively.
The ILO concludes that addressing psychosocial risks is essential not only for protecting workers’ physical and mental health, but also for improving productivity, organisational performance, and long-term economic resilience across countries and industries.
