This study is part of a comprehensive project investigating psychiatric morbidity and relevant psychiatric instruments at a primary health care setting in the United Arab Emirates. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and some sociodemographic aspects of depressive disorders in a primary health care sample (16 yrs & older). Depressive disorders constituted 70% of the total identified as minor psychiatric morbidity within this primary care patient group. Out of all identified cases, 55% were suffering from neurotic depression, 1.7% from endogenous depression, and 13% from anxiety-depressive states. Females outnumbered males in all types of depressive disorders.