Abstract This study is an initial step for the National Survey of Prevalence of Mental Disorders in Egypt. We conducted a door-to-door household survey of 14 640 adults aged 18-64 years in 5 regions in Egypt. Mental disorders were diagnosed using the MINI-Plus diagnostic interview. Overall prevalence was estimated at 16.93% of the studied adult population. The main problems were mood disorders, 6.43%, anxiety disorders, 4.75%, and multiple disorders, 4.72%. Mental disorders were associated with sociodemographic factors [‎e.g. being female, being unemployed, being divorced]‎ and physical illness [‎e.g. heart disease, kidney disease, hypertension]‎