Media release

From: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)

Latest AIHW dementia data

Dementia in Australia brings together the latest statistics on dementia – including how many Australians are affected, its impact on health and wellbeing, deaths and the use of health services. It also provides insights into the vital role of carers who support people living with dementia.

Some of the latest dementia insights include:

Over one million Australians are projected to have dementia by the year 2065

• Applying the AIHW method for calculating dementia prevalence to Australian Bureau of Statistics population projections for each year to 2065, the estimated the number of people with dementia in Australia will more than double over this period – from just under 425,000 in 2024 to nearly 1.1 million in 2065 (around 390,000 men and 662,000 women).

There were around 425,000 people living with dementia in Australia in 2024

• Nearly 266,000 women and 159,000 men make up the 425,000 people living with dementia.
• This is equivalent to 16 people with dementia per 1,000 Australians (19 per 1,000 women and 12 per 1,000 men).

Dementia is the leading cause of death in Australia in 2023

• There were a total of 17,400 deaths due to dementia, with more women than men dying due to the condition (around 10,900 and just over 6,500 deaths, respectively).
• A note on reporting: AIHW reporting on dementia in this report includes other dementias (for example, Lewy body dementia), in addition to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and unspecified dementia when reporting dementia related deaths.
• Less than 5% of deaths due to dementia in 2023 were caused by other dementias, but due to the small difference between dementia and coronary heart disease in 2023 this was enough to change the relative order of the leading cause of death for persons.