Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer – we need political action to save lives

Dementia robs us of everything that matters. Our memories, our connections, our story. And our latest analysis reveals the devastating scale at which it is claiming lives across the UK – more than any other health condition.

Using data from the Office for National Statistics (which covers England and Wales), the National Records of Scotland  and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency we’ve confirmed that dementia remained the UK’s biggest killer in 2023, claiming over 75,000 deaths. That’s more than one in ten of all deaths nationwide.

At Alzheimer’s Research UK, we will not stop until we can save people from dementia. And we’ll continue our work to revolutionise the way dementia is treated, diagnosed, and prevented.

But we can’t do this alone. That’s why – in light of Lord Darzi’s independent review of the NHS in England and the government’s ambitions to build a health service fit for the future – we’re urging the government to address the growing dementia crisis through its 10-Year Health Plan.

We hope these statistics, launched to coincide with our annual Parliamentary event, will prompt MPs from across all political parties to share our vision of a future where there is a cure for dementia.

Let’s take a closer look at what the data show – and what they don’t.

What do the new data show?

Last year, dementia took the lives of 75,393 people across the UK – that’s about 1,000 more than 2022, and a 1.5% increase.

But how does dementia cause death? As diseases like Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia progress, they damage more and more of the brain. This damage eventually affects areas of the brain that control the body, causing systems to go wrong and shut down, eventually leading to death.

And how do these figures compare to other conditions? Over the past two decades, deaths from many major common conditions have fallen, including:

• heart disease,
• lung cancer,
• and cerebrovascular disease (which includes strokes and aneurysms)

At the same time, deaths from dementia have risen.   It’s long been clear that dementia affects women more than men – it has been the leading cause of death in women in the UK since 2011. And women continued to be at greater risk last year, with almost 48,500 dying from the condition compared with just under 27,000 men.

Among the devolved nations, the following death rates were observed:

• Northern Ireland had the highest dementia death rate at 11.7%,
• Followed by England and Wales at 11.5%,
• and Scotland had the lowest at 10.2%.

Hat Hewitt knows too well the human toll behind these figures, having lost her mum, Laura, to posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), a rare variant of Alzheimer’s disease, in 2023. Laura had been diagnosed at the age of 57 in 2014. Hat spoke about her experience of having a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease, she said:

“Watching my mum’s decline from PCA was devastating. While me and my sisters did all we could to keep her well for as long as possible, it was heartbreaking seeing our once vibrant mum decline so much and lose the ability to do the things she loved.

“It strips the person of everything and leaves those around them to watch as it happens. “My mum is one of the many people who died from Alzheimer’s in 2023, and it’s heartbreaking to know so many others are facing the same cruel fate.

“Politicians and NHS leaders must act now if we are to change the outlook for future generations. Otherwise, we’ll be staring at the same heart-rending statistics for years to come.”

Does this paint an accurate picture?

Despite the stark picture these figures present, we fear they are almost certainly an underestimate.

That’s because many people with dementia don’t ever receive a formal diagnosis. And this, in turn, means that the fact they have dementia would be unlikely to appear on their death certificate.

In fact, around one in three people over 65 with dementia in England, Northern Ireland and Wales remain undiagnosed. In Scotland it’s around two in three.

This means that the figures about who gets diagnosed and where are frustratingly incomplete. NHS England aims to ensure 67% of people with dementia receive a diagnosis – this means, even if these targets are met, it would still mean a third of people who develop dementia will never receive a diagnosis.

And it’s also worth noting that these data – which are the best available – don’t break the condition down into the different types of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, or frontotemporal dementia.

In other words, it’s the best picture we have, but there are parts of it missing and the resolution is poor.

Why are rates increasing?

While we can’t pinpoint the exact reasons behind the increase in dementia deaths last year, there are multiple reasons behind the overall upward trend’s deaths.

For a start, the UK’s population is ageing. Age is the biggest risk factor for developing dementia, so it’s expected that we’ll see rates of people with dementia increasing and, unfortunately, deaths from it rising too. The number of people living with dementia in the UK is predicted to increase from 982,000 today, to more than 1.4 million by 2040.

Looking back over a longer term, it’s important to note that the way dementia deaths have been recorded by the Office for National Statistics has changed, with two specific changes in 2011 and 2014.

Previously, they’ve attributed many dementia deaths to other conditions, like cerebrovascular disease (which includes strokes and aneurysms) and a form of lung infection called aspiration pneumonia. But with these changes, they’re now attributed to dementia – leading to a jump in the statistics.

But there’s another factor that also appears to be contributing to the increase. As our understanding of dementia’s risk factors grows, it’s becoming clear that some communities are feeling the impact of dementia risk more than others.

For example, many of the most disadvantaged communities in the UK are at a greater risk of dementia because of their increased exposure to factors such as air pollution. And research has suggested that widening inequalities in society are leading to an increase in dementia rates.

While as individuals we can address and improve on some aspects of our lives, it’s much harder to influence things like air pollution – and it’s around these so-called ‘social determinants’ of health that we want to see government action.

What we need to turn the tide on dementia

Millions of people have been saved thanks to advancements in medical research – the COVID vaccine is a clear example of that. We want to see the same for dementia, and we’re confident that one day we will.

Life-changing progress is being made in the labs every day, and we are now on the cusp of a first generation of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, something that many thought impossible only a decade ago.

This year, two new Alzheimer’s drugs – lecanemab and donanemab – became the first licensed Alzheimer’s drugs in Britain in over 20 years. While these treatments are not cures and carry risks, they are the first to slow memory and thinking decline caused by Alzheimer’s.  Although not currently available on the NHS, NHS England has identified nearly 30 other potential dementia treatments that could be available by 2030.

We’re also witnessing rapid advances in how people with dementia are diagnosed. New ways of diagnosing the diseases that can detect dementia earlier and more accurately, like blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease, are showing promise. And new insights are showing how we can reduce the number of people developing dementia in the first place by addressing factors that affect our brain health.

But these figures bring a new sense of urgency to our cause, and we need government support in the form of sustained, bold, and ambitious action. The 10-Year Health Plan must be used as an opportunity to capitalise on the recent advances in research and future proof NHS dementia services.

And by doing so, we hope that together we can eventually turn the tide against these awful statistics and save people from the heartbreak of dementia.