In the Guardian today, the above graph and:

More than 1 million children were referred to mental health services across England last year, with referrals up 10% from the year previous, according to a report by the children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza. She said the country faced a “crisis” in young people’s mental health.

The number of patients who had an active referral to children and young people’s mental health services across England surpassed 1 million for the first time in 2024-25. This was almost double the number recorded in 2018-19, and an almost 10% rise on the previous year.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/29/england-children-mental-health-crisis-million-referrals

and

All things being equal, per head of population, you might expect Scotland to have had around 10% or just over 100 000.

According to Public Health Scotland, the figure was 33 316, around one third of the level in England.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-december-2025/

The average* wait for treatment in Scotland was around 5 weeks or 35 days, just over a quarter of the length.

Also Scotland met the national standard (90% starting treatment within 18 weeks) throughout 2025, with quarterly figures typically 90–91.8%.

https://www.gov.scot/news/continued-progress-on-child-mental-health-waiting-times/

*Public Health Scotland (PHS) reports do not publish a single overall mean/average wait time. Using the median (50th percentile) we get consistently 5 weeks across most 2025 quarters. This means half of those starting treatment began within about 5 weeks of referral.

What might explain this shocking difference? – Lower child poverty, lower violent youth crime, lower youth unemployment, lower levels of domestic abuse seen by children?

For the evidence that all of these are true, evidence-based claims, try searching for them here, (the magnifying glass icon).