2010
This influential report revealed the huge burden of dementia on the UK economy, helping to spark greater government action against the condition.
This analysis from the Health Economics Research Centre, carried out on behalf of Alzheimer's Research UK, calculated the care costs of dementia, taking into account the cost to health services, social services, unpaid carers and others.
Dementia 2010
The research also compares these costs to other great medical challenges of our age: cancer, heart disease and stroke. The astonishing findings were a wake-up call to society, showing:
- Dementia costs the UK economy £23bn per year – more than cancer (£12bn) and heart disease (£8bn) combined.
- Long-term institutional social care and informal care costs make up the majority of this cost.
- Most of the cost of dementia (£12.4bn per year) is met by unpaid carers.
This report played an important role in pushing dementia research up the political arena, adding further weight to calls for dementia to become a priority in the UK. This increased political attention resulted in the launch of the first Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia in 2012, which included a commitment to double government funding for dementia research.
This report was published in 2010
