Dementia cases are rising faster in China than the rest of the world
Cases of dementia doubled worldwide between 1990 and 2021, but more than quadrupled in China during the same period
By Grace Wade
7 May 2025
Why are dementia cases soaring in China?
hanohikirf/Alamy
Dementia rates are increasing more rapidly in China than almost anywhere else in the world, with cases more than quadrupling in the country over the past few decades.
Daoying Geng at Fudan University in China and her colleagues analysed dementia rates in 204 countries and regions around the world between 1990 and 2021. They used a World Health Organization database to collect information on dementia deaths and cases in people aged 40 and older, focusing on Alzheimer’s disease and some other forms of dementia, such as vascular dementia and frontotemporal lobe dementia.
Read more
The shocking discovery that our gut microbiome drives ageing
Advertisement
The researchers found that the number of people with dementia worldwide more than doubled during this period, from almost 22 million in 1990 to close to 57 million in 2021. The increase was even more drastic in China, where cases more than quadrupled, rising from roughly 4 million to nearly 17 million over the same time frame.
Further analysis revealed that population growth was the main culprit. Birth rates in China spiked in the 1950s. “So those people are getting older today – they are now in their 70s, which is the highest risk group for dementia,” says Xi Chen at Yale University, who wasn’t involved with the study. “Many countries have baby boomers, but not as large a cohort as China’s baby boomers. So that’s the main issue.”
The team identified three other major factors contributing to China’s rising dementia rates. The first, smoking, almost exclusively affects men, as only 2 per cent of women in China smoke cigarettes while roughly half of all men do. This is in sharp contrast to wealthier countries such as the US and the UK, where smoking rates have steadily declined, says Chen.
