Prevalence of dementia in Europe

Europe's population is growing older. According to EuroStat figures, more than one fifth of the EU population was aged 65 or over in 2020, which represents an increase of 3% compared to 2010. Life expectancy is also increasing in Europe, rising from an average of 77.7 years for someone born in 2002, to 81.3 years for someone born in 2019.

Is the number of people living with dementia increasing?

As the primary risk factor for dementia is age, the continued increase in life expectancy and population ageing also increases the likelihood of people developing the condition. Over the last three decades, a number of significant pieces of work have been undertaken at a European level to estimate the prevalence of dementia. These include the EURODEM study (updated in 2000), the European Collaboration on Dementia (EuroCoDe; 2006 - 2008) and the first EU Joint Action on Dementia - ALCOVE (2011-2013). 

Accurate, up-to-date knowledge about the prevalence of dementia is essential for research, health and social policymaking. In 2019, we provided an update on the estimated prevalence and incidence rates of people with dementia, following the methodology used in the EuroCoDe project.

These estimates were published in our 2019 Yearbook, entitled "Estimating the prevalence of dementia in Europe". The key findings of the Yearbook are as follows:

• Across men and women and across most age groups, there has been a reduction in the prevalence of dementia over the past ten years when compared to 2008 estimates.
• The number of people living with dementia in the European Union (EU27) is estimated to be 7,853,705 and in European countries represented by AE members, 9,780,678. Compared to its earlier estimates, this constitutes a significant reduction from 8,785,645 for the EU27 and from 10,935,444 for the broader European region.
• Women continue to be disproportionately affected by dementia with 6,650,228 women and 3,130,449 men living with dementia in Europe.
• The numbers of people with dementia in Europe will almost double by 2050 increasing to 14,298,671 in the European Union and 18,846,286 in the wider European region.

On this page, you will be able to find dementia prevalence rates by age and sex, and country-by-country estimates of dementia prevalence.

Prevalence of dementia in Europe, by age and sex

The table below provides an overview of the prevalence rates for 2018, calculated for each age range and presented as a percentage for the overall population and broken down by sex. 

Prevalence of dementia in Europe, by country 

In this section, we show the estimated prevalence of dementia in different countries, in 2018, 2025 and 2050. The 2025 and 2050 estimates are calculated based on future population projections, taken from the United Nation's World Population Prospects data.
 

EU28 countries

Non-EU countries