Personality disorders: a nation-based perspective on prevalence

To date, five major studies have examined the prevalence and type of personality disorders in community samples in the United States. According to the majority of studies, the overall prevalence of Axis II disorders in the general population is consistently around 10 percent. According to the most recent study, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is the most frequent Axis II disorder in community samples in the United States, followed by narcissistic and borderline personality disorders. In contrast to studies in the United States, community prevalence rates of personality disorders in other countries show moderately wide variation, from 6.1 to 13.4 percent; yet, the averaging of these two low/high percentages results in 9.7 percent. The most common type of personality pathology in a given country varies, and this variance may be accounted for in a number of relevant ways.