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If you fight tireless to go to sleep at night, you might not be alone in that struggle. 

Researchers from University of Warwick have revealed that about 150 million adults across the developing world are suffering from sleep-related problems. They found a rate of 16.6 percent of the population reporting insomnia and other severe sleep disturbances in the countries surveyed - close to the 20 per cent found in the general adult population in the West, according to nationwide surveys in Canada and the United States.

Saverio Stranges  lead the study. 

"Our research shows the levels of sleep problems in the developing world are far higher than previously thought," Stranges said. "This is particularly concerning as many low-income countries are facing a double burden of disease with pressure on scarce financial resources coming from infectious diseases like HIV, but also from a growing rate of chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases and cancer."

The results are published in a study in the journal Sleep and this is first ever pan-African and Asian analysis of sleep problems. 

The team of global researchers observed the sleep quality of 24,434 women and 19,501 men aged 50 years and over in eight locations in rural populations in Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia, and an urban area in Kenya.

They examined potential links between sleep problems and social demographics, quality of life, physical health and psychiatric conditions. The strongest link was found between psychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety and sleep problems, mirroring trends seen in the developed world. 

Bangladesh had the highest prevalence of sleep problems among the countries analyzed - with a 43.9 percent rate for women - more than twice the rate of developed countries and far higher than the 23.6 percent seen in men. Bangladesh also saw very high patterns of anxiety and depression.

Vietnam too had very high rates of sleep problems - 37.6 percent for women and 28.5 percent for men.

Meanwhile in African countries, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana saw rates of between 8.3 percent and 12.7 percent.

However, South Africa had double the rate of the other African countries - 31.3 percent for women and 27.2 percent for men.

India and Indonesia both had very low prevalence of sleep issues - 6.5 percent for Indian women and 4.3 percent for Indian men. Indonesian men reported rates of sleep problems of 3.9 percent and women had rates of 4.6 percent.

The research also found a higher prevalence of sleep problems in women and older age groups, consistent with patterns found in higher income countries.

"This new study suggests sleep disturbances might also represent a significant and unrecognized public health issue among older people, especially women, in low-income settings," Stranges said. 

The research results suggested that sleep problems are not linked to urbanization since the people surveyed were mostly living in rural settings.