2015 World Alzheimer Report: 5 stats you should know

Alzheimer's Disease International has released its 2015 report titled "The Global Impact of Dementia: An analysis of prevalence, incidence, cost and trends," and estimates that the global cost of dementia will reach $1 trillion by 2018. 

Here are five other statistics you need to know:

1. 46.8 million people worldwide are living with dementia. That number will double every 20 years, reaching 74.7 million people in 2030. This estimate is roughly 13 percent higher than estimates made in the 2009 World Alzheimer Report.
2. The report estimates that one new person is diagnosed with dementia every 3.2 seconds. It is estimated that there will be 9.9 million new cases each year worldwide.
3. The global cost of dementia is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2018. The global cost already increased from $604 billion in 2010 to $818 billion in 2015 (a 35.5 percent increase). "This means that if global dementia care were a country, it would be the 18th largest economy in the world and would exceed the market values of companies such as Apple ($742 billion) and Google ($368 billion)," the report states.
4. It's estimated that 58 percent of people living with dementia today live in lown and middle income countries. This number is expected to rise to 68 percent by 20150 because of population growth and the aging global population.
5. Current estimates show there are 22.9 million Asians, 10.5 million Europeans, 9.4 million Americans, and 4 million Africans living with dementia. 

Read the full report here (PDF). 

Megan Combs

Megan Combs was Associate Editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long Term Living from 2013-2018.