Mental illness has become a major public health problem in China as the country modernizes and family traditions fade.

The Ministry of Health says mental illness accounted for 20 percent of diseases in China and will rise to a quarter by 2020. It says about 16 million Chinese suffered some sort of mental disease, a national incidence of 1.34 percent, China Radio International reported Tuesday.

Vice Minister Zhu Qingsheng admits that mental health has become a major public health problem in China, not only affecting the life and work of the patients and their families, but also bringing heavy economic burden to society.

The ministry has confirmed four groups of people -- youth, women, seniors, and disaster victims -- as the focus of its work with schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer's disease, the three major mental diseases in China.

Director of the Ministry of Health's disease control department Qi Xiaoqiu analyses that China is undergoing great changes with increasing social conflicts and pressure. And the transformation of family and population structures has given rise to the incidence of mental diseases.