This is the first report on the epidemiology of depressive disorders from the European Outcome of Depression International Network (ODIN) study. To assess the prevalence of depressive disorders in randomly selected samples of the general population in five European countries. The study was designed as a cross-sectional two-phase community study using the Beck Depression inventory during Phase 1, and the Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry during Phase 2. An analysis of the combined sample (n=8.764) gave an overall prevalence of depressive disorders of 8.56% (95% CI 7.05-10.37). The figures were 10.05% (95% CI 7.80-12.85) for women and 6.61% (95% CI 4.92-8.83) for men. The centres fall into three categories: high prevalence (urban Ireland and urban UK), low prevalence (urban Spain) and medium prevalence (the remaining sites). Depressive disorder is a highly prevalent condition in Europe. The major finding is the wide difference in the prevalence of depressive disorders found across the study sites.