The McKinsey Health Institute has highlighted brain health as a major strategic priority in its 2025 Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Impact Report, showcasing a growing collection of research, implementation guidance, practical tools, and real-world case studies that position investment in brain health as both a public health imperative and an economic opportunity.
Spanning mental health, neurological conditions, and substance use disorders, the Institute’s Brain Health resources reflect a growing international recognition that improving brain health can strengthen workforce participation, economic resilience, and societal wellbeing alongside better health outcomes.
Building the economic case for brain health
Among the featured resources is the interactive report, The New Case for Brain Health: Scaling Interventions for Health and Economic Growth.
Drawing on global epidemiological and economic modelling, the report estimates that scaling cost-effective interventions for mental, neurological, and substance use conditions could avert 267 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally by 2050 while generating up to US$6.2 trillion in cumulative global GDP gains. The interactive platform enables users to explore disease burden, intervention opportunities, and projected health and economic outcomes across countries and regions.
AI to strengthen the mental health workforce
One of the most practical resources featured within the hub is the open-access Mental Health & AI Field Guide, developed through a partnership between the McKinsey Health Institute, Grand Challenges Canada, and Google.
Rather than focusing on AI replacing clinicians, the guide explores how artificial intelligence can responsibly strengthen task-sharing models, where trained non-specialist providers deliver evidence-based mental health interventions. It provides implementation guidance on using AI to support workforce training, clinical supervision, quality assurance, and decision support while maintaining appropriate governance and human oversight.
From research to implementation
The impact report showcases several examples of research being translated into practice.
One featured case study highlights McKinsey’s work with the California Department of Health Care Services and Kooth’s youth digital mental health platform, Soluna, as part of the Children’s and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative. The collaboration helped expand access to behavioural healthcare across schools, homes, digital spaces, and communities by developing sustainable school reimbursement models, launching youth-designed virtual platforms, and scaling evidence-based and community-defined evidence programs statewide—helping millions of young people access care earlier and more easily.
The report also highlights Mind Matters, McKinsey’s internal mental health programme, which is informed by the Institute’s research on brain capital. The programme integrates mental, physical, social, and spiritual wellbeing, offering colleagues and their families early intervention resources, 24/7 access to counsellors and coaches, and trained local points of contact to support resilience and wellbeing.
Brain health as strategic infrastructure
The Brain Health collection complements McKinsey’s broader work on brain capital—the concept that brain health and cognitive capability are becoming increasingly important drivers of innovation, resilience, and economic growth in the age of artificial intelligence.
Its companion report, The Human Advantage: Stronger Brains in the Age of AI, argues that organisations and nations will gain the greatest advantage from AI by investing not only in technology, but also in people’s cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal capabilities.
For leaders across digital mental health, healthcare, research, and public policy, the McKinsey Health Institute’s growing body of work provides a valuable evidence base for advancing brain health as a strategic investment that benefits both individuals and economies.
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