Overview

• Dementia accounted for about 17,400 deaths in 2023 (9.5%), ranking first overall, first for women, and second for men after coronary heart disease.
• An estimated 425,000 Australians were living with dementia in 2024, with prevalence rising from under 1 per 1,000 at ages 30–59 to about 210 per 1,000 at ages 85–89.
• Women made up the larger share of cases in 2024 (about 266,000 women versus 159,000 men), and the AIHW projects roughly 1.1 million people could be living with dementia by 2065, cautioning long‑range uncertainty.
• Dementia‑attributable spending reached nearly $3.7 billion in 2020–21, led by residential aged care (49%), and at least 102,000 people were unpaid primary carers in 2024.
• Advocates urge government funding for prevention messaging, dementia navigators, and workforce expansion as experts flag the need to scale memory‑clinic and aged‑care capacity and note that prevention estimates are based largely on observational evidence.