Countries With The Highest Rates Of Deaths From Dementia

10. Belgium (27)

According to the estimates of Alzheimer Europe, the number of people with dementia in Belgium in 2012 was 191,281, representing 1.77% of the entire population of this country. This figure is significantly higher than the European Union’s average of 1.55% percent of the population affected with dementia. As per Ligue Alzheimer-Alzheimer Liga (LINAL), 9% of the people in Belgium’s capital city of Brussels, aged 65 and over, suffer from dementia. Furthermore, Brussels also has 98.53 dementia patients per square kilometer of land area in the city.

9. The Netherlands (29)

A report by Statistics Netherlands revealed a shocking figure of 12.5 thousand deaths of Dutch citizens related to dementia in 2014, which is far higher than the figure of 4.4 thousand deaths due to the same causes in 1996. As of 2015, there are about 260,000 people affected with dementia in Netherlands. One of the reasons for the increase in dementia cases in the country has been attributed to advances in medical treatment, decreasing the number of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, cancer and infectious diseases, but increasing the mortality rates caused by age related neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and other dementias. This has been explained by people living longer, therefore having more dementia-prone years of life.

8. Denmark (30)

In 2012, 85,562 people in Denmark were affected with dementia, as per the estimates of Alzheimer Europe. Shockingly, this figure represents 1.53% of the entire population of this Scandinavian nation. The increasing average age of Denmark’s population is believed to further increase the number of cases of dementia, and it is possible that in the future a fifth of Danes living more than 85 years will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. Hence, the government of the country is constantly making efforts to build Denmark as a more "dementia-friendly" country by speeding up the process of dementia diagnosis, and ensuring early treatment and care for the sufferers of this debilitating disease.

7. Norway (30)

According to a 2007 report made by the Norwegian Directorate of Health, about 70,000 Norwegians, or 1.4% of the population of Norway, are dementia patients. Further, studies claim that the incidence of dementia is likely to double between what was seen in 2006 by 2050. To manage the increasing number of dementia cases, Norway has implemented Dementia Plans, with the most recent one ending in 2015, and a new one beginning in 2020. These Dementia Plans aim to improve the quality of life of dementia patients by providing a proper framework for co-operation between the state, municipalities, and volunteers to handle cases of dementia and help improve the condition of those patients with dementia.

6. Switzerland (32)

The number of dementia patients is on a constant rise in Switzerland, which sees an estimated 25,000 new cases each year. In the age group from 80 to 84 years old, one in every eight Swiss persons suffer from this disease. Following the current trends, studies estimate that the number of cases of dementia in the Swiss population will rise to over 190,000 by 2030, and 300,000 by 2060. There is also a huge economic cost associated with dementia management, with around seven billion Swiss Francs being spent per year in the management of this progressive neurodegenerative disorder in Switzerland.

5. Sweden (32)

According to the estimates of Alzheimer Europe, 173,135 persons in Sweden, representing 1.82% of the population of the country, were affected with dementia in 2012. This figure of 1.82% is significantly higher than that of the European Union’s average, wherein 1.55% percentage of the EU's collective population is under the grasp of dementia. Around 24,000 new cases of dementia are reported each year in Sweden, with about 32 dementia related annual deaths per 100,000 of the Swedish population. An increase in the life expectancy due to advances is medical science is often attributed as one of the primary causes of increase in cases of age-related disorders like dementia in Sweden.

4. Iceland (34)

Iceland has some of the largest relative numbers of dementia cases in the world, with 1.19% of the total population of the country being affected by the disease, and 34 Icelanders per 100,000 in the population dying every year due to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. However, though such figures are not very encouraging, a recent discovery by scientists conducting studies on a section of the Icelandic population have yielded some helpful facts. A mutation in the gene coding for the amyloid-β precursor protein (APP), discovered in the Icelandic population, appears to protect individuals with the mutation against the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Further insight into this subject holds promise to help ascertain the cause of Alzheimer’s and related dementias, and develop effective treatments for the same.

3. Canada (36)

In Canada, the health scenario involving dementia appears to be quite frightening, with 747,000 Canadians found to be affected by Alzheimer’s and related dementias in 2011. A staggering 14.9% of the Canadian population who are 65 years or older are affected with these neurodegenerative disorders. It is also estimated that if the scenario does not change, by 2031 as many as 1.4 million people in Canada will be patients needing care for Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Each year, $33 billion is spent in the management of dementia in Canada, and this figure is also believed to rise to $293 billion by 2040 if there are no improvements in the current situation surrounding the management of these debilitating diseases there.

2. USA (46)

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Alzheimer’s and other dementias are responsible for the shocking figure of one in three deaths of seniors in the United States. It is also a scary prospective cause of death, as it has yet to have a known cure or permanent preventive measure against it. $226 billion were spend on Alzheimer’s and related dementia management in the United States, and this figure is estimated to skyrocket to $1.1 trillion in 2050. 46 people die per 100,000 members of the United States population every year due to Alzheimer’s or other dementias. Older women are most affected by Alzheimer’s in the nation, with two-thirds of American Alzheimer’s patients being female.

1. Finland (54 deaths per 100,000 people per year)

Even though all the Scandinavian countries have managed to feature in the list of countries with the highest mortality rates due to Alzheimer’s and dementia, Finland appears to outnumber all these countries, as well as the other countries of the world, in this respect. Statistics shock us, as they state that a staggering number of 54 people dying per 100,000 in the Finnish population every year due to Alzheimer’s and other dementias. In 2010, one in every five deaths in those aged of age 80 and older in Finland was caused by Alzheimer’s and related dementias, while in 2014 8,100 people died in this country due to dementia. Since women live longer than men, more women die due to these age-related diseases than men. In 2010, 69% of the deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s in Finland were women.