Page 230 - RUICHSS 2023 Proceeding

University of Ruhuna ISSN: 2706-0063
Matara, Sri Lanka

health problems. Therefore, this study mainly focuses on underprivileged

urban areas and the associated mental disorders.

The literature in this area proves the impact of urbanisation on mental

disorders in different countries in the world. Accordingly, it is opportune for
the researchers to examine the effect of urbanisation on mental disorders,

specifically focusing on SAARC countries. Therefore, the study examines
urbanisation's effects on mental illnesses in SAARC countries (Afghanistan,

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) from

1990 to 2019. Furthermore,a special attention was given to the SAARC
countries since South Asian nations show a high prevalence of mental

disorders (Naveed et al., 2020). The polynomial regression model was utilised
to examine the impact of urbanisation on mental disorders using time series

data from 1991-2019.

The rest of the research paper is structured as follows. First, variables are

introduced and the justification for adopting them in the study is discussed.
Second, a summary of the primary literature used in the study is presented.

Third, the study's methodology, results, and discussion are presented and the

conclusion is given in the fifth section.

2. Research Problem

As discussed in the previous section, the increasing global population
increases urbanisation. In turn, increasing urbanisation leads to the emergence
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