The number of dementia patients in the Czech Republic could rise dramatically by 2050, more than tripling. Experts warn of the enormous social and financial challenges this will pose.
The number of people with dementia in the Czech Republic is expected to increase by around two-thirds every ten years until 2050. This was recently announced by Ladislav Dušek, head of the Institute for Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS), during a presentation at the Czech Parliament. According to his statement, by the middle of this century, almost 266,000 people will be living with the diagnosis – more than three times as many as just a few years ago.
According to a report by the news channel ČT24, around 80,000 Czechs were already affected by Alzheimer’s and related diseases in 2023, with those affected often reliant on the help of those around them. The ageing population and the increasing number of diagnosed cases are leading to a dramatic rise. Over the past eight years, the number of dementia patients has grown by half.
Currently, about six per cent of those affected are younger than 69, and around 40 per cent are under 80. The disease does not only affect very old people at the end of their lives; many of those affected still have more than ten years to live.
The rising number of patients is also reflected in the costs: expenditure on the care and nursing of dementia patients has risen by 56 per cent in five years, reaching almost 21 billion koruna in 2023. Almost half of patients are cared for at home by family members or other non-professional carers; however, this proportion decreases with increasing age.
Around one-third of patients die in hospitals, about 20 per cent in long-term care facilities, another almost 20 per cent in social care facilities, and just under 10 per cent at home. With the rising number of people affected, experts say that the expansion of home care and social and health-related services will be urgently needed in the future.
