Global Burden of Dementia

The work of the 10/66 Dementia Research Group has substantially updated our understanding of the global prevalence and impact of dementia. The information from prevalence and incidence studies in Latin America, India, and China has been synthesised with new data from other research studies, and used to generate new estimates of numbers affected worldwide, published in ADIs 2009 World Alzheimer Report and the World Health Organizations 2012 report: "Dementia: a public health priority" Link.

It is now estimated that in 2010 35.6 million people world wide were living with dementia, this figure nearly doubling every twenty years to reach 115 million by the year 2050.

• Most people with dementia live in LMIC- 57.7% in 2010, rising to 63.4% in 2030 and 70.5% in 2050.
• By 2030, increases will be much sharper in developing countries (332%), than developed countries (103%).
• Growth in Latin America (134%-146%) will exceed that in any other world region.

Well designed epidemiological research can generate awareness, inform policy, and encourage service development. However, such evidence is lacking in many world regions, and patchy in others, with few studies and widely varying estimates. There is a particular dearth of published epidemiological studies in sub-Saharan Africa, with only one good study to have been published from that part of the continent Abstract.