Incidence
Peter Johannsen, Ph.D., Department Physician (12-09-2005)
In Australia approximately 200 000 people are affected by dementia.
Dementia is rarely observed in young people. If you look at the group under 65 years of age, less than 1 out of 1,000 has a dementia disease. The incidence rises especially after the age of 75. At the ages of 85-90, more than one-fifth of people are affected by a type of dementia. It is important to remember that most elderly people do not have a dementia disease.
Since we now live longer than in the past, and the number of elderly people is also on the rise, more people are now living with a type of dementia. The incidence of dementia in the population is however the same as before.