Informe sobre Adicciones Comportamentales y Otros Trastornos Adictivos 2023: España

The Observatorio Español de las Drogas y las Adicciones (OEDA) and the Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre Drogas published this 2023 report on behavioural addictions in Spain. It draws on the EDADES general-population survey (ages 15-64) and the ESTUDES school survey (ages 14-18), covering money gambling, problematic internet use, probable video game disorder and pornography use, and adds the first national data on treatment admissions for behavioural addictions, which refer to 2021. The report reviews sample sizes, response rates and methods for each survey edition, which vary by year.

In 2022, 58.1% of the population aged 15-64 had gambled with money in the past 12 months, with 57.4% gambling in person and 5.3% online. Among students aged 14-18 in 2023, 21.5% had gambled with money, with 10.7% doing so online and 17.7% in person. Probable problem gambling affected 1.3% of the 15-64 population on the DSM-5 scale, and 4.0% of students on the Lie/Bet scale.

For internet use, 3.5% of adults aged 15-64 showed possible problematic internet use in 2022, while 20.5% of students did so in 2023. Among students, 5.1% showed a possible video game disorder in 2023, down from 7.1% in 2021. In 2021, 4,052 people were admitted to treatment for behavioural addictions, and 80.7% of those admissions were for gambling disorder.