Burnout statistics · Reviewed October 14, 2026 · Next review October 2027
Burnout Statistics for Executives, Founders and High Achievers
Every figure on this page links to its source, with the sample size and year beside it. Where a number is our own arithmetic, we say so, and we leave out figures we could not trace to a named study.
Compiled by Lisa Chen & Associates Therapy. Reviewed by Lisa Chen, LMFT, with the Reserve Method framework from her book Toasted.
- 67%of full-time employees feel burned out at least sometimes
Gallup (2018) - 46%of leaders reported a lot of stress the previous day
Gallup (2026) - 72%of entrepreneurs surveyed were affected by a mental health condition, their own or a family member’s
Freeman et al. (2019) - 35%higher stroke risk at 55 or more hours a week
WHO and ILO (2021)
Burnout is common, and it is more common than most leaders admit. In a Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees, 23% felt burned out very often or always and another 44% felt it sometimes. Among leaders, Gallup’s 2026 global report found 46% had a lot of stress the previous day, and almost 70% of surveyed C-suite executives told Deloitte they were seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being. The World Health Organization defines burn-out as an occupational phenomenon caused by chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, not as a medical condition.
What is burnout, according to the WHO?
The World Health Organization defines burn-out in ICD-11 as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” It lists three dimensions, and it says burn-out is an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition. WHO (2019)
Energy depletion or exhaustion
The feeling of having nothing left to give.
Mental distance or cynicism
Pulling away from the job, or feeling negative about it.
Reduced professional efficacy
Doing the work less well than you know you can.
Burnout can overlap with depression and anxiety, and the two can show up together. Only a licensed clinician can tell which is present.
“The bone isn’t weak. It was loaded, repeatedly, faster than it could repair.”
How common is burnout among workers?
About two in three full-time workers feel burned out at least sometimes, and nearly one in four feel it very often or always. That comes from a Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees.
| Statistic | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time employees who feel burned out very often or alwaysSurvey of nearly 7,500 full-time employees. | 23% | Gallup (2018) |
| Full-time employees who feel burned out sometimesSame survey. | 44% | Gallup (2018) |
| Full-time employees who feel burned out at least sometimesOur sum of the two figures above, about two in three. Our calculation | 67% | Gallup (2018) |
| Worldwide employee engagement in 2025The lowest since 2020. Gallup measures engagement, not burnout, but the two tend to move together. | 20% | Gallup (2026) |
| Worldwide workers who are thriving in their overall livesUp one point from 2024. | 34% | Gallup (2026) |
What we make of itBurnout at this scale is not a niche problem of a few overextended people. It tracks how work is organized, which is why willpower alone rarely moves it.
“A dimming bulb does not know it is dim.”
How common is burnout among executives and leaders?
Leaders report more stress, anger, sadness and loneliness than the people they manage, and almost 70% of surveyed C-suite executives said they were seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being. No study we could verify measures an executive burnout rate with a published method, so these are the closest sourced signals.
| Statistic | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Leaders who reported a lot of stress the previous day7 points more than individual contributors. | 46% | Gallup (2026) |
| Leaders who reported anger the previous day12 points more than individual contributors. | 33% | Gallup (2026) |
| Leaders who reported sadness the previous day11 points more than individual contributors. | 34% | Gallup (2026) |
| Leaders who reported loneliness the previous day10 points more than individual contributors. | 31% | Gallup (2026) |
| Managers worldwide who are engaged at work, 2025Down from 27% in 2024 and 31% in 2022. Non-managers: 19%. | 22% | Gallup (2026) |
| C-suite executives seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-beingDeloitte survey as reported by Fortune, February 2023. | Almost 70% | Deloitte via Fortune (2023) |
| C-suite executives who always or often feel overwhelmed at workSame survey. | 40% | Deloitte via Fortune (2023) |
| C-suite executives who reported struggling with depressionCompared with 23% of employees in the same survey. | 26% | Deloitte via Fortune (2023) |
Source: Gallup (2026), 2025 data. Individual contributor values are our subtraction, not Gallup’s published figures.
Gallup’s leader figures measure emotions reported the previous day, not burnout itself. Deloitte’s figures come from a survey reported by Fortune, and the article does not state the sample size or field dates.
What we make of itEach gap is modest on its own. Together they describe a role with more load and fewer places to put it down. Loneliness is the one we would underline, because the people with the most riding on a decision often have the fewest people they can think out loud with.
“It looks like excellence with the lights slowly going down.”
How common are burnout and mental health strain among founders?
Founders report high rates of mental health conditions and burnout, but the research is thin and self-reported. A 2019 study found 72% of 242 entrepreneurs were affected by a condition, their own or a family member’s, and a 2025 Canadian survey found 65% of women founders and 42% of men reported burnout.
| Statistic | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Entrepreneurs affected by a mental health condition, their own or a family member’s242 entrepreneurs and 93 comparison participants. Self-report. | 72% | Freeman et al. (2019) |
| Entrepreneurs with a personal mental health historyPart of the 72% above. | 49% | Freeman et al. (2019) |
| Entrepreneurs who reported depressionEntrepreneurs reported more than the comparison group. | 30% | Freeman et al. (2019) |
| Entrepreneurs who reported ADHDEntrepreneurs reported more than the comparison group. | 29% | Freeman et al. (2019) |
| Entrepreneurs who reported substance use conditionsEntrepreneurs reported more than the comparison group. | 12% | Freeman et al. (2019) |
| Entrepreneurs who reported bipolar disorderEntrepreneurs reported more than the comparison group. | 11% | Freeman et al. (2019) |
| Entrepreneurs with two or more conditions18% reported three or more. | 32% | Freeman et al. (2019) |
| Women founders who reported burnoutCompared with 42% of men. More than 100 health sciences startup leaders in Ontario and Quebec; pre-seed founders were most likely to report high anxiety and burnout. | 65% | MaRS (2025) |
What we make of itRead these as signals, not rates. Both surveys are small, and neither can show that building a company causes burnout. The direction of cause is unknown: founding may add strain, and some traits behind these conditions may also draw people to founding. What the numbers do show is that a founder who feels this is far from alone.
“could not tell me what her engine felt like at any other setting.”
What causes burnout?
Gallup found five main causes of burnout: unfair treatment, unmanageable workload, lack of role clarity, poor manager communication and support, and unreasonable time pressure. Unfair treatment was the strongest, with high burnout 2.3 times as likely.
| Statistic | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| How much more likely high burnout is when employees feel treated unfairly at workUnfair treatment was the first of Gallup’s five main causes. | 2.3x | Gallup (2018) |
| Gallup’s five main causes of burnoutUnfair treatment, unmanageable workload, lack of role clarity, lack of manager communication and support, and unreasonable time pressure. | 5 | Gallup (2018) |
| Workers who strongly agree they know what is expected of themRole clarity is the third cause on the list. | 60% | Gallup (2018) |
| How much less likely high burnout is when employees have enough time to do their workGallup’s finding on time pressure. | About 70% | Gallup (2018) |
| How much less likely regular burnout is when employees feel supported by their managerGallup’s finding on manager communication and support. | About 70% | Gallup (2018) |
| U.S. workers who say job insecurity has significantly affected their work stress2,017 employed U.S. adults, March 26 to April 4, 2025. | 54% | APA (2025) |
| U.S. workers worried a downturn could lead to layoffs within the yearUp from 36% in 2024. | 44% | APA (2025) |
What we make of itAll five causes are about how work is run. None is a trait of the worker. High performers often read burnout as a personal failing and respond with more discipline, which adds load to a system that was already overloaded. The data points the other way: change the conditions, and the odds change.
“You can’t rest your way out.”
What does burnout cost?
Burnout shows up as turnover, health risk, lost workdays and money. Employees with frequent burnout were 2.6 times as likely to be looking for a different job, working 55 or more hours a week was linked to a 35% higher stroke risk, and the WHO and ILO put the global cost of lost days to depression and anxiety near $1 trillion a year.
| Statistic | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| More likely to take a sick day among employees with frequent burnoutFrequent means very often or always. | 63% | Gallup (2018) |
| How much more likely employees with frequent burnout are to look for a different jobCompared with employees who are not frequently burned out. | 2.6x | Gallup (2018) |
| More likely to visit the emergency room among employees with frequent burnoutGallup. | 23% | Gallup (2018) |
| Less confident in their performance among employees with frequent burnoutGallup. | 13% | Gallup (2018) |
| Higher risk of stroke at 55 or more hours a weekCompared with 35 to 40 hours a week. | 35% | WHO and ILO (2021) |
| Higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease at 55 or more hours a weekCompared with 35 to 40 hours a week. | 17% | WHO and ILO (2021) |
| Deaths from stroke and heart disease linked to long working hours, 2016398,000 from stroke and 347,000 from heart disease. About 9% of the world’s population works long hours. | 745,000 | WHO and ILO (2021) |
| Workdays lost every year to depression and anxietyGlobal estimate. | 12 billion | WHO and ILO (2022) |
| Cost to the global economy of those lost daysUS dollars, per year. | Nearly $1 trillion | WHO and ILO (2022) |
| Global productivity lost to low engagement, 2025About 9% of global GDP. Gallup calls the estimate conservative. | $10 trillion | Gallup (2026) |
| U.S. workers who say personal relationships recently suffered from work stress2025 Work in America survey. | 36% | APA (2025) |
| Workers worried about a downturn who say work stress makes it hard to sleepShare of those worried about a downturn. | 42% | APA (2025) |
What we make of itThink of it as exposure. The costs land on health, on judgment, on who stays and who leaves, and on the people at home. The APA’s 2025 figures on relationships and sleep are a reminder that the bill does not stay at work.
“You’re most likely the most expensive depreciating asset in your organization, and the only one no one is tracking.”
Is perfectionism part of burnout?
Perfectionism has risen over time, and the sharpest rise is in the kind driven by what others expect of you. Across 41,641 college students in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., socially prescribed perfectionism rose 33% between 1989 and 2016.
| Statistic | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Rise in socially prescribed perfectionism, 1989 to 2016The belief that others demand perfection of you. 41,641 college students in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. | 33% | Curran and Hill (2019) |
| Rise in other-oriented perfectionism, 1989 to 2016Demanding perfection of other people. | 16% | Curran and Hill (2019) |
| Rise in self-oriented perfectionism, 1989 to 2016Demanding perfection of yourself. | 10% | Curran and Hill (2019) |
What we make of itThese are students, not executives, and the study does not link perfectionism to burnout directly. It is here because high achievers often describe the same pressure: a standard that other people seem to hold, and that moves every time it is met.
“Under pressure you become the most practiced version of yourself, and for you, the most practiced version pushes.”
The Reserve Method
Reading the numbers through the Reserve Method
These statistics describe how many people are burned out and what it costs them. The Reserve Method, from Lisa Chen’s book Toasted, describes what is happening underneath: energy as a running account, and burnout as withdrawals outrunning deposits for too long. Here is each idea next to the data that bears on it.
The Reserve
The running balance of everything you spend to do your work: attention, patience, judgment, and the steadiness to come home with something left. Sleep is a deposit. So is a real break.
2.3xas likely to report high burnout when treated unfairlyGallup’s five main causes of burnout are conditions, not character: unfair treatment, workload, role clarity, manager support and time pressure. The book’s position is that accounts are drained by conditions as well as by choices.
Gallup (2018)The Worst Trade
The extra hour does not pay what you think it pays. The tired hour produces less than the rested one, and it costs more tomorrow.
35%higher stroke risk at 55 or more hours a weekWorking 55 or more hours a week was linked to a higher risk of stroke and of dying from heart disease than working 35 to 40.
WHO and ILO (2021)Selective depletion
Protecting the work while overdrawing everything else, so the cost lands at home, in sleep and in the body.
36%say relationships recently suffered from work stressAPA’s 2025 survey found work stress reaching past work: 36% said personal relationships had recently suffered, and among those worried about a downturn, 42% said stress made it hard to sleep.
APA (2025)Chronic redline
The engine parked at its limit as a way of life: the accelerator held down and the brake barely touched. Read more: chronic redline in founders.
46%of leaders reported a lot of stress the previous dayNo study here measures redline itself. The closest sourced signal is Gallup’s finding that leaders were more likely than individual contributors to report a lot of stress the day before.
Gallup (2026)The Burn Line
One curve you slide along, usually without noticing the crossing, as the reserve runs down. Full reserve at the top, then four phases. Read more: the four phases of burnout.
67%feel burned out at least sometimesGallup’s figures show how many people are on the slope. They cannot show where any one person is on it. That takes a different kind of measure.
Gallup (2018)
One line, five points: the Burn Line
The Burn Line is one curve you slide along as the reserve runs down, usually without noticing the crossing. The move that helps depends on where you are on it.
- Top of the line
Full Reserve
Funded. Rest still restores you.
The moveKeep it on purpose and protect one real off-switch.
- Phase 1
Drawing Down
Spending a little faster than you refill, still mostly fine. The cheapest place to fix it.
The moveProtect a single real deposit this week and refuse to spend it.
- Phase 2
Running on Credit
Funding the performance on borrowed energy, wired and depleted at once.
The moveStop using tomorrow as your funding, and step off the drain.
- Phase 3
In the Red
The borrowing has caught up and it shows.
The moveNot a solo project. Tell one person the truth and let a professional in.
- Phase 4
The Forced Stop
The choice got made for you.
The moveThis is care, not a productivity fix. Get medical and professional support now.
Statistics cannot place you on the line. The Burn Line Locator takes 13 statements and about two minutes, and it is a reflection tool, not a diagnosis.
“A full reserve isn’t the soft option. It’s the performance upgrade.”
Our analysis: the numbers side by side
These results are our own arithmetic on the sourced figures above. We show the inputs so you can check every one.
| What we calculated | Inputs | Result | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burnout at least sometimes | 23% + 44% | 67% | About two in three full-time workers in the Gallup sample feel burned out at least sometimes. |
| Leader stress, relative to individual contributors | 46% vs 39% (46 minus 7) | 18% higher | Stress is the smallest of the four gaps in relative terms. |
| Leader anger | 33% vs 21% (33 minus 12) | 57% higher | The widest relative gap in Gallup’s leader data. |
| Leader sadness | 34% vs 23% (34 minus 11) | 48% higher | Nearly half again as likely. |
| Leader loneliness | 31% vs 21% (31 minus 10) | 48% higher | Same gap as sadness. |
| Drop in manager engagement, 2022 to 2025 | 31% to 22% | 9 points, a 29% fall | Manager engagement fell by almost a third in three years. |
| Executive depression gap | 26% vs 23% | 3 points, 13% higher | A modest gap, and the source article gives no sample size. |
| Women and men founders reporting burnout | 65% vs 42% | 23 points, 1.55 times | The MaRS sample is small and specific, so treat it as a signal. |
| Rise in job-loss worry, 2024 to 2025 | 36% to 44% | 8 points, 22% higher | Worry about layoffs from an economic downturn, U.S. workers. |
| Rough cost per lost workday | Nearly $1 trillion ÷ 12 billion days | Under $85 | An average across all workers worldwide, so a senior leader’s lost day likely costs more. |
What these statistics can’t tell you
Good numbers still have edges. Here are the ones to keep in mind before you quote anything on this page.
- Different definitions
- Gallup asks how often people feel burned out. The WHO defines three dimensions. Other sources measure engagement, stress or well-being. These numbers are neighbors, not interchangeable.
- Different dates
- Gallup’s burnout study is from 2018, the stress and engagement figures are 2025 data, and the WHO and ILO deaths estimate is for 2016. Check the year beside each figure before comparing.
- Self-report and small samples
- The founder studies rely on what people said about themselves, and the samples are small. They show a pattern. They do not give a rate for all founders.
- Missing methods
- The Deloitte figures reach us through a Fortune article that does not state the sample size or dates. We include them because they speak directly to C-suite well-being, and we say where the method is missing.
- Students, not executives
- The perfectionism data comes from college students. It is context for high achievers, not a measurement of them.
- Not a diagnosis
- Statistics describe groups. They cannot tell you whether you are burned out, depressed, overextended or all three. A licensed clinician can assess that.
When burnout is more than a rough quarter
A figure like 67% can make burnout feel ordinary, and ordinary things get put off. If the exhaustion, the distance from your work or the slipping standards have lasted for months, it is worth a conversation with someone who can sort out what is going on. The way back in the Reserve Method has four moves, taken in order.
- 1
Step off
Take your hand off the active drain. Not to relax, but to surface the part that will not let you stop.
- 2
Meet the Overspender
Turn toward that part, understand what it is protecting, and begin to lead it instead of being led by it.
- 3
Make the deposit
Put real capacity back, and learn to tell a true deposit from a firefighter that only feels like one.
- 4
Keep it
Cycle hard load and real recovery on purpose, and check the gauge while the drift is still cheap to correct.
“You don’t have to blow up your life to recover. No sabbatical, no resignation, no move to a cabin.”
Lines from Toasted you are welcome to quote
These lines are from Lisa Chen’s book Toasted. Quote them with credit, and the button copies the line with the credit and a link to this page.
“It grows out of stress the way rust grows out of weather.”
“The lie is the word later. Because there’s always one more finish line, and you’re good at finding it.”
“A wish is not a deposit. You can grant yourself a thousand of them and still wake up empty.”
“The body keeps the books even when you refuse to open them.”
“A full reserve isn’t the soft option. It’s the performance upgrade.”
“Structure beats willpower every time, because structure is still standing on the day your willpower is spent.”
“Repair is demonstrated, not declared.”
“We do not graduate from this. We get better at catching it, and faster at coming back.”
Cite this page
You are welcome to quote any figure here. Please link to this page and name the original source for each number, because the research belongs to the organizations that ran it.
Lisa Chen & Associates Therapy. (2026, October 14). Burnout statistics for executives, founders and high achievers. https://www.lisachentherapy.com/burnout-statistics
Burnout statistics questions
The short answers, with the same sources as above.
What percentage of executives experience burnout?
No single, well-sourced executive burnout rate exists, and we won’t quote one we can’t trace. What the sourced data shows: 46% of leaders reported a lot of stress the previous day (Gallup, 2025 data), and almost 70% of surveyed C-suite executives were seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being (Deloitte, 2023). Some pages that quote one precise executive burnout rate don’t name a study.
What is the main cause of burnout?
In Gallup’s study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees, unfair treatment at work was the top cause, followed by unmanageable workload, unclear roles, poor manager communication and support, and unreasonable time pressure. All five describe how work is run, not how resilient the worker is.
What is the Reserve Method?
The Reserve Method is Lisa Chen’s framework for burnout, developed in her book Toasted. It treats energy as a running account: you spend attention, patience and judgment every day, and sleep, real breaks and recovery are the deposits. Burnout is what happens when withdrawals outrun deposits for long enough. The method places a person on the Burn Line, then works through four moves: step off, meet the Overspender, make the deposit and keep it.
What is the Burn Line?
The Burn Line is a model of how burnout develops, from full reserve through drawing down, running on credit and in the red to the forced stop. It is one curve you slide along, not four boxes, and the move that helps depends on where you are on it. Surveys such as Gallup’s count how many people feel burned out. The Burn Line describes how far along one person is.
Is burnout a medical diagnosis?
No. The World Health Organization classifies burn-out as an occupational phenomenon in ICD-11, a syndrome from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It has three dimensions: exhaustion, mental distance or cynicism about the job, and reduced professional efficacy. Burnout can overlap with depression and anxiety, and only a clinician can assess which is present.
How many working hours a week raise health risk?
The WHO and ILO found that working 55 or more hours a week was linked to a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared with 35 to 40 hours a week.
Are founders more likely to have mental health conditions?
In a 2019 self-report study of 242 entrepreneurs, 72% were affected by a mental health condition, their own or a family member’s, and entrepreneurs reported more depression, ADHD, substance use and bipolar disorder than the comparison group. It was a small survey and cannot show that starting a company causes these conditions.
How much does burnout cost?
The WHO and ILO estimate that depression and anxiety cost 12 billion workdays and nearly $1 trillion a year worldwide. Gallup estimates low engagement cost the world economy $10 trillion in 2025, about 9% of global GDP. At the individual level, Gallup found employees with frequent burnout were 2.6 times as likely to be looking for a different job.
How often is this page updated?
We review it once a year and when a major new dataset appears. This version was reviewed on October 14, 2026, and the next review is due October 2027. Each source is dated, so you can see how old every figure is.
Can I quote or cite these statistics?
Yes. Please link to this page and name the original source for each figure, because the research belongs to the organizations that ran it. A suggested citation is in the Cite this page section above.
Sources
Ten sources, each read directly. Figures marked “Our calculation” are arithmetic on these sources.
- World Health Organization. Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. May 28, 2019. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- Gallup. Employee Burnout, Part 1: The 5 Main Causes. Survey of nearly 7,500 full-time employees. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237059/employee-burnout-part-main-causes.aspx. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- Gallup. State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report. 2025 data from 263,810 respondents (141,444 employed), January to December 2025. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/burnout-work.aspx. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- Fortune. C-suite executives are burned out and considering quitting, citing a Deloitte well-being survey. February 23, 2023. https://fortune.com/2023/02/23/c-suite-executives-burnout-mental-health-hr/. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- Freeman, M. A., Staudenmaier, P. J., Zisser, M. R., & Andresen, L. A. (2019). The prevalence and co-occurrence of psychiatric conditions among entrepreneurs and their families. Small Business Economics, 53(2), 323–342. https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v53y2019i2d10.1007_s11187-018-0059-8.html. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- MaRS Discovery District. New survey exposes critical mental health crisis among Canadian startup founders (Mind Balance Project). March 24, 2025. https://www.marsdd.com/media-centre/new-survey-exposes-critical-mental-health-crisis-among-canadian-startup-founders/. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- World Health Organization and International Labour Organization. Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke. May 17, 2021. https://www.who.int/news/item/17-05-2021-long-working-hours-increasing-deaths-from-heart-disease-and-stroke-who-ilo. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- World Health Organization and International Labour Organization. WHO and ILO call for new measures to tackle mental health issues at work. September 28, 2022. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-09-2022-who-and-ilo-call-for-new-measures-to-tackle-mental-health-issues-at-work. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- American Psychological Association. 2025 Work in America survey, conducted by The Harris Poll, March 26 to April 4, 2025 (2,017 employed U.S. adults). Press release. https://www.newswise.com/articles/more-than-half-of-u-s-workers-say-job-insecurity-causing-stress. Accessed October 14, 2026.
- Curran, T., & Hill, A. P. Perfectionism is increasing over time: A meta-analysis of birth cohort differences from 1989 to 2016. Psychological Bulletin (published online December 2017). APA press release. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2018/01/perfectionism-young-people. Accessed October 14, 2026.
Talk it through with someone who works with this every week
Lisa Chen & Associates Therapy works with executives, founders and high achievers in Hermosa Beach and online across California. The first 20-minute consultation is free, and we reply within one business day.