Is BPD more common in women than men?

In clinics, yes: the DSM-IV-TR said BPD is diagnosed about 75% of the time in females. In the general population the picture is different. The large US NESARC survey found 5.6% of men and 6.2% of women, with no significant difference, and the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication also found no sex difference.

How many people in the UK have BPD?

The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023/4 estimated that about 900 thousand adults in England would screen positive for BPD. That is based on 1.9% of adults screening positive on a self-completion questionnaire, which is a screen and not a clinical diagnosis. No equivalent official figure exists for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland in that survey.

What is the suicide rate in BPD?

In a US study that followed 290 people first recruited as psychiatric inpatients with BPD for 24 years, 5.9% died by suicide, compared with 1.4% of a comparison group with other personality disorders. Most of those who died had not recovered before death. Because these were inpatients, the figure does not describe everyone with BPD, and people in that study who recovered were at lower risk.

How Common Is BPD? The Real Numbers, Including in Men

Q: What percentage of the population has BPD?

In England, 1.9% of adults aged 16 and over screened positive for BPD in the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023/4, published by NHS England in November 2025. Community studies elsewhere range from 0.7% in Oslo to 5.9% lifetime in a large US survey, and a 2018 review put the median point prevalence at roughly 1%. The spread comes mostly from how BPD was measured.

Q: How common is BPD in mental health services?

Much more common than in the general population. A 2018 review of community and clinical studies found BPD in around 10% to 12% of people in outpatient psychiatric clinics and 20% to 22% of psychiatric inpatients. A US primary care study found a lifetime prevalence of 6.4% among GP patients, about four times the general community rate.

About 2 in every 100 adults. England's Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023/4 found that 1.9% of adults screened positive for borderline personality disorder (BPD, called EUPD in much of the UK). Community studies in other countries range from under 1% to nearly 6%, depending on how they counted. And in the general population, the best large surveys find men and women affected at similar rates, even though clinics see mostly women.

I have BPD, and I remember assuming it was rare, and that it was a woman's diagnosis. Neither is quite true. Here is what the primary sources actually say, with the caveats that matter.

How common is BPD? The short answer

Source	Who was counted	Figure for BPD
Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, England 2023/4	Adults 16+, screening questionnaire	1.9% screened positive
Torgersen et al, Oslo, 2001	2,053 adults aged 18 to 65, interviewed	0.7%
Lenzenweger et al, US NCS-R, 2007	US adults, clinician interview plus statistical estimate	1.4%
Tomko et al, US NESARC, 2014	34,481 US adults	2.7%
Grant et al, US NESARC Wave 2, 2008	34,653 US adults, face-to-face structured interview	5.9% lifetime
Ellison et al, review, 2018	Community studies combined	median point prevalence roughly 1%

If you want one sentence: somewhere between 1 and 2 in 100 adults at any one time is the most defensible range, and higher figures usually count anyone who has ever met the criteria in their life.

What percentage of the population has BPD?

The numbers vary because the studies ask different questions.

Point versus lifetime. Grant and colleagues measured lifetime BPD and found 5.9%. A review by Ellison and colleagues found the median point prevalence (people who meet criteria now) is roughly 1%.
Who does the assessing. A meta-analysis of Western community studies by Volkert and colleagues found that lower prevalence was significantly associated with expert-rated assessment rather than self-rated. Lenzenweger and colleagues cautioned that an earlier very large US survey used a newly developed structured interview carried out by lay interviewers rather than clinicians.
Screen versus diagnosis. The England figure is a screening questionnaire. A positive screen means someone may meet the criteria. It is not the same as being assessed and diagnosed.

For a global picture of personality disorders in general, a 2020 meta-analysis of 46 studies from 21 countries by Winsper and colleagues found a pooled prevalence of 7.8% for any personality disorder and 2.8% for cluster B, the group that includes BPD. That paper did not give a single BPD-only figure in its abstract, and its authors warned that pooled rates "should be interpreted with caution" because the studies differed so much.

What are the BPD statistics in the UK?

The newest official figures for England come from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023/4, published by NHS England on 27 November 2025. The personality disorder chapter reports:

1.9% of adults aged 16 and over screened positive for BPD. If everyone had been screened, the true figure is likely between 1.5% and 2.5%.
That equates to about 900 thousand adults in England.
2.5% of women and 1.3% of men screened positive.
Prevalence was highest among 16 to 24 year olds, at 6.1%, and fell with age. Among young women aged 16 to 24, 9.8% screened positive.
The proportion of 16 to 64 year olds screening positive for BPD stayed stable between 2014 and 2023/4.
47.8% of adults who screened positive for BPD were not receiving any treatment for a mental or emotional problem.

The survey's own authors say its main limits are that it is self-reported and cross-sectional, and that how to interpret a positive screen "is a matter for debate". They also note that the diagnosis itself is contested, and that BPD is often called EUPD in the UK.

How common is BPD in mental health services?

Far more common than in the community, which is part of why people assume it is common everywhere.

Ellison and colleagues' review found prevalence of around 10% to 12% in outpatient psychiatric clinics and 20% to 22% among psychiatric inpatients.
A US primary care study by Gross and colleagues found a lifetime prevalence of 6.4% (14 of 218 patients), about four times the rate in general community studies. Nearly half of those patients (42.9%) had not been recognised by their doctor as having an ongoing emotional or mental health problem.

BPD rarely travels alone. Tomko and colleagues found that among US adults with BPD, 84.8% had a lifetime anxiety disorder, 82.7% a lifetime mood disorder or episode, and 78.2% a lifetime substance use disorder.

Is BPD more common in men or women?

This is where the famous figure comes from, and where it falls apart.

In clinics, mostly women. The DSM-IV-TR stated that BPD is "diagnosed predominantly (about 75%) in females". The 2023/4 England survey authors also note that "among clinical populations, a higher rate among women is consistently observed".

In the general population, the gap mostly disappears.

Grant and colleagues found BPD in 5.6% of men and 6.2% of women, and concluded it "is equally prevalent among men and women".
Lenzenweger and colleagues found no sex difference in the rate of BPD in the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication.
Tomko and colleagues found slightly higher rates in females.
The England 2023/4 screen found 2.5% of women and 1.3% of men, although the same chapter notes the 2014 survey did not find a difference by sex.

So the honest summary is mixed: some community surveys find no difference, some find a modest one, and none comes close to three women for every man. Skodol and Bender reviewed the question and concluded that the clinical gender gap "appears to be largely a function of sampling bias" and that "true prevalence by gender is unknown". One explanation the England survey cites is that women are substantially more likely to seek treatment.

How does BPD show up in men?

The core diagnosis is the same, but the evidence suggests the picture around it can look different. A review by Sansone and Sansone reported that:

Men with BPD are more likely to show an explosive temperament and higher novelty seeking.
Men are more likely to have substance use disorders and antisocial personality disorder alongside BPD. Women are more likely to have eating, mood, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders.
Men are more likely to have treatment histories for substance use, and women for therapy and medication.

Not every study agrees. A multinational clinical trial sample of 770 people with BPD (211 men) found no differences between men and women in aggression, suicidality or substance abuse, and the authors suggested BPD "may diminish normal gender differences".

What this means in practice: a man whose BPD shows up as anger or drinking may be seen by addiction or criminal justice services long before anyone asks about BPD. That is an inference from the treatment patterns above, not a measured finding.

What are the suicide statistics for BPD?

The England survey authors say the suicide rate among people meeting criteria for BPD is "many times higher than in the general population".

The longest direct follow-up I could check is Temes and colleagues' 24-year study of 290 adults first recruited as inpatients with BPD at McLean Hospital in the US between 1992 and 1995:

5.9% died by suicide, compared with 1.4% of a comparison group with other personality disorders.
14.0% died of other causes.
87.5% of those who died by suicide had not recovered before death.

Read that carefully. These were people ill enough to be in hospital, in the US, over 30 years ago, so the figure does not describe everyone with BPD. The same study found that people who did not recover were at disproportionately higher risk of early death than those who did. And recovery is not unusual: the England survey authors cite a clinical cohort in which 88% of treated patients no longer met the criteria for BPD ten years after diagnosis. I go through the long-term outcome data in Is BPD treatable?.

If you are reading this because you are frightened for yourself right now, please call Samaritans free on 116 123.

Does BPD become less common with age?

Yes, in the survey data. In England, 6.1% of 16 to 24 year olds screened positive, and the figure fell with each older age group. Grant and colleagues also found BPD more prevalent among younger adults, and Lenzenweger and colleagues found age was inversely related to cluster B personality disorders. These are snapshots of different people at one moment, not the same people followed over time.

What these numbers mean if you have BPD

Two in a hundred is not rare. In a town of 50,000 adults, that is around 950 people. It is also not a women's condition, and men who recognise themselves in it deserve an assessment as much as anyone. If you want to know what the diagnosis actually involves, start with BPD, demystified, and if you are in the UK, how to get assessed for BPD on the NHS.

Sources

Clery E, David M, Cretch E, Morris S, Barnicot K, Coid J, McManus S, Moran P. Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey: Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, England, 2023/4. Chapter 8: Personality disorder. NHS England, published 27 November 2025.
Grant BF et al. Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV borderline personality disorder: results from the Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. J Clin Psychiatry, 2008;69(4):533-45. PMID 18426259.
Lenzenweger MF, Lane MC, Loranger AW, Kessler RC. DSM-IV personality disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Biol Psychiatry, 2007;62(6):553-64. PMID 17217923 (full text PMC2044500).
Tomko RL, Trull TJ, Wood PK, Sher KJ. Characteristics of borderline personality disorder in a community sample. J Pers Disord, 2014;28(5):734-50. PMID 25248122.
Torgersen S, Kringlen E, Cramer V. The prevalence of personality disorders in a community sample. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 2001;58(6):590-6. PMID 11386989.
Ellison WD, Rosenstein LK, Morgan TA, Zimmerman M. Community and clinical epidemiology of borderline personality disorder. Psychiatr Clin North Am, 2018;41(4):561-573. PMID 30447724.
Winsper C et al. The prevalence of personality disorders in the community: a global systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry, 2020;216(2):69-78. PMID 31298170.
Volkert J, Gablonski TC, Rabung S. Prevalence of personality disorders in the general adult population in Western countries: systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry, 2018;213(6):709-715. PMID 30261937.
Gross R et al. Borderline personality disorder in primary care. Arch Intern Med, 2002;162(1):53-60. PMID 11784220.
Skodol AE, Bender DS. Why are women diagnosed borderline more than men? Psychiatr Q, 2003;74(4):349-60. PMID 14686459.
Sansone RA, Sansone LA. Gender patterns in borderline personality disorder. Innov Clin Neurosci, 2011;8(5):16-20. PMID 21686143.
Silberschmidt A, Lee S, Zanarini M, Schulz SC. Gender differences in borderline personality disorder: results from a multinational, clinical trial sample. J Pers Disord, 2015;29(6):828-38. PMID 25562535.
Temes CM, Frankenburg FR, Fitzmaurice GM, Zanarini MC. Deaths by suicide and other causes among patients with borderline personality disorder and personality-disordered comparison subjects over 24 years of prospective follow-up. J Clin Psychiatry, 2019;80(1):18m12436. PMID 30688417.

Read from the published abstracts and guidance on 5 October 2026. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell me.

Nothing here is medical advice, it's lived experience, meant to sit alongside real support, not replace it. If you're struggling, please see the support resources. If you're in crisis in the UK, call Samaritans free on 116 123, or dial 999 in an emergency.