Essential facts, stats and quotes relating to dementia

This page contains facts, stats, and quotes relating to dementia that LPCs may find useful when writing business cases or developing resources to support the commissioning of a dementia screening or support service.

This page is a ‘work in progress’ and will continue to be updated with new facts, stats and quotes.

Facts, stats, and quotes on other topics can be accessed on the Essential facts, stats, and quotes page.

NHS Digital (formerly known as HSCIC) – focus on dementia (January 2016)

• Diagnosis information is collected from GP practices to give a national picture of the prevalence of diagnosed dementia
• Diagnosed prevalence increased from 643 per 100,000 in April 2014 to 755 per 100,000 in December 2015, which is 423,000 diagnoses out of 56 million registered patients.
• Carers of people with dementia assess their own quality of life as 7.7 out of 12 overall. This is lowest in London at 7.3 and highest in the North East at 8.4.
• 39% of carers spent 100 or more hours each week looking after or caring for a person with dementia, with 52% spending 50 hours or more per week.
• Over half (51%) of carers had been in their caring role for more than five years.
• Prescriptions of the four National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraised Alzheimer’s disease (the commonest cause of dementia) medicines increased from 502,000 items in 2004 to 3 million items in 2014.
• By 2051, as many as one in four people (25%) will be aged 65 or over and one in 15 people (7%) aged 85 or over.

Department of Health – Dementia: A state of the nation report on dementia care and support in England (November 2013)

• There are approximately 670,000 people in England living with dementia. This number will double in the next 30 years.
• By mid-2015 there will be 850,000 people with dementia in the UK and if no action is taken this figure will pass the two million mark by 2051 (Prince M, Knapp M, Guerchet M, McCrone P, Prina M, Comas-Herrera A, Wittenberg R, Adelaja B, Hu B, King D, Rehill A and Salimkumar D (2014) Dementia UK: Second edition, London: Alzheimer’s Society.)
• After 65, the likelihood of developing dementia roughly doubles every five years.

Mortality:

• Of the top 25 causes of years of life lost in the UK due to premature mortality between 1990 to 2010, a study found Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias had risen from 24th place to 10th, accounting for 2.6% of total years of life lost across the top 25 causes.

Diagnosis:

• Currently, less than half of people with dementia in England (48%) have a formal diagnosis or have contact with specialist services. The diagnosis rate varies from 39% in the worst-performing areas to 75 percent in the best.

Hospital care:

• An estimated 25% of hospital beds are occupied by people with dementia. People with dementia also stay in hospital for longer, are more likely to be re-admitted and more likely to die than patients admitted for the same reason.

Care homes and care at home:

• An estimated one-third of people with dementia live in residential care with two-thirds living at home.
• Approximately two-thirds of care home residents are currently estimated to have dementia.

Economy: 

• Dementia costs society an estimated £19 billion a year in England, more than the costs of cancer, heart disease, or stroke.

Carers:

• An estimated 21 million people in our country know a close friend or family member with dementia – that is 42% of the population.
• There are around 550,000 carers of people with dementia in England. It is estimated that one in three people will care for a person with dementia in their lifetime.

Fear:

• People fear dementia more than any other disease. 39% of over 55s fear getting Alzheimer’s the most, compared to 25% who worry most about cancer.

Loneliness:

• 47% of people with dementia do not feel part of their community. They often experience anxiety and depression and three-quarters do not feel society is properly equipped to deal with dementia.
• 62% of people with dementia living alone are lonely and it can sometimes be difficult to access services, which only adds to this isolation.