Facts for the media

What is dementia?

Dementia describes different brain disorders that trigger a loss of brain function. These conditions are all usually progressive and eventually severe.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia, affecting 62 per cent of those diagnosed, almost 417,000 people.

Other types of dementia include; vascular dementia affecting 17 per cent of those diagnosed, mixed dementia affecting 10 per cent of those diagnosed.

Symptoms of dementia include memory loss, confusion and problems with speech and understanding. Dementia is a terminal condition.

Who is affected?

There are 700,000 people with dementia in the UK. By 2018 there will be over 800,000 people living with dementia. This will soar to over one million by 2015 and 1.7 million by 2050.

There are 575,000 people with dementia in England. The condition affects more than 56,000 people in Scotland, 16,000 in Northern Ireland and more than 36,000 people in Wales.

One in three people over 65 will die with dementia

More than 60 per cent of all care home residents, aged over 65, have a form of dementia.

More than 15,000 people under 65 have dementia in the UK.

Dementia affects 11,000 people from black and minority ethnic groups in the UK.

How much does it cost?

By 2018 dementia will cost the UK £27 billion per annum.

Unpaid carers supporting someone with dementia save the economy £6 billion a year.

Dementia is one of the main causes of disability later in life, ahead of cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke. As a country we spend much less on dementia than on these other conditions.

How does the UK compare to other countries?

More than 24 million people have dementia today with the numbers affected doubling every 20 years to more than 80 million by 2040.

Another 4.6 million people will develop dementia around the world this year.

What about treatments and research?

There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease or any other type of dementia. Delaying the onset of dementia by five years would halve the number of deaths from the condition, saving 30,000 lives a year.

Dementia research is desperately underfunded. The government invests eight times less in dementia research than cancer research.

In 2007-08 cancer research received £248.2 million, while dementia research received just £32.34 million.

Alzheimer's Society invests over £6 million in dementia research to improve care for people today and find a cure for tomorrow.