Background Worldwide population surveys show that prevalence of mental disorders in developing countries was as common as in industrialized countries. College life is an important stage in every person’s life; unfortunately, it may be the time to experience depression for the first time. Latterly, there has been a steady increase in the number of university students diagnosed and treated as depressed patients. This paper presents the results of a study carried out on a representative sample of undergraduate students of an Egyptian University, which aimed to study the relationship between social factors and the occurrence of depression. It was assumed that the poorer the socio-economic background the higher the rates of depression.