Dementia in America
More than 12 million family members and other unpaid caregivers provided an estimated 19.6 billion hours of care to people living with Alzheimer's or other dementias in 2025.
These numbers from the latest data are affecting communities across the country, including yours.
- An estimated 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older live with clinical Alzheimer's dementia today. This number could increase to 13.8 million by 2060, absent medical breakthroughs that prevent or cure AD.
- Alzheimer's disease was officially listed as the sixth‐leading cause of death in the United States in 2024 and the fifth‐leading cause of death among Americans age 65 and older. Between 2000 and 2024, AD deaths increased 134%.
- Unpaid dementia caregiving was valued at $446.3 billion in 2025. The costs for caregivers also include increased risk for emotional distress and negative mental and physical health outcomes.
- More frequent social activity points to a 38% reduction in dementia risk and a 21% reduction in mild cognitive impairment risk, compared to the least socially active.
- Social activity can delay dementia onset by five years — adding three years of life and cutting lifetime healthcare costs by up to $500,000 per person. Across the population, that translates to a 40% reduction in dementia-related costs over the next 30 years.
- Non‐drug treatments are a first‐line approach for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. These include physical activity, brain games, music‐ and art‐based therapies, pet therapy, and many others.
Sources: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13098189/
https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.14316
In the face of all the facts, it is imperative that new systems of care and treatment be researched and implemented TODAY to protect the quality of life for those projected to live with perhaps the most far-reaching disease of our century.
There is a new response to dementia and Alzheimer’s, and it is not found in the bottom of a bottle of pills, on the internet, or in building more lockdown, memory care units. The response is love. It is neighbor helping neighbor and letting your friends know they are not forgotten. It is the skill of trained volunteers knowing how to create opportunity and space for friends living with dementia to still have purpose.
Our response is social, not medical. It’s Respite for ALL. For the caregiver, the friend living with dementia, and the volunteer.
Getting to Know Dementia
- The word dementia is a general term for the deterioration of cognitive functions, like the ability to remember, think, or make decisions.
- While dementia mainly impacts older adults, it is not considered a normal part of aging. A lot of people go their entire lives without developing dementia.
- The five most common types of dementia include Alzheimer’s Disease, Vascular Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia, Fronto-Temporal Dementia, and Mixed Dementia.
- Symptoms can vary from person to person, but typically a person with dementia may have problems with memory, attention, communication, problem-solving, reasoning, and even visual perception beyond age-related changes.
- Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia contributing 60-70% of cases.
- In America, one new case of Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed every 65 seconds.
- Family and friends (informal caregivers) spend an average of 5 hours per day caring for a person living with dementia.