Report on Behavioral Addictions and Other Addictive Disorders: Spain 2023

The Spanish Observatory on Drugs and Addictions and the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs published this 2023 monographic report on behavioral addictions in Spain. It draws on the nationally representative EDADES household survey of the 15-64 population and the ESTUDES school survey of 14-18 students, covering gambling, problematic internet use, gaming and pornography use, and adds national data from the new admissions-to-treatment indicator for 2021. In 2022, 58.1% of the 15-64 population had gambled in the last 12 months, with face-to-face gambling at 57.4% and online gambling at 5.3%. In 2023, 21.5% of students aged 14-18 had gambled in the last 12 months, rising from 20.1% in 2021. Possible problematic internet use, using the CIUS scale, was 3.5% among the 15-64 population in 2022 and 20.5% among students in 2023. Among students, 5.1% could have a possible gaming disorder according to the DSM-5-based scale, and 66.8% had used pornography at least once in their lifetime. In 2021, gambling accounted for 80.7% of the 4,052 admissions to treatment for behavioral addictions.