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• Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for about 55% of cases of dementia.
• Dementia currently affects over 800,000 people in the UK and this figure may double by the year 2040 as the population ages. However, dementia is a global issue with an estimated 36 million people affected worldwide.
• It is also estimated that there is a new case of dementia somewhere in the world every 7 seconds.
• Dementia affects 1 in 20 of the over 65s and more than 1 in 5 of the over 80s but it should not be thought of as a normal part of ageing. Much younger people can be affected, although this is rare.
• Funds for Alzheimer's research in the NHS and Universities are inadequate, receiving a fraction of what is spent per patient on cancer research.
• The majority of dementia cases go without formal diagnosis.
• Dementia care costs the UK over £20 billion a year. Worldwide, the annual cost was thought to have passed 1% of global GDP in 2010.

Images of the human brain, clockwise from top left - MRI Scan, Alzheimer tangles, Brain slices and Alzheimer plaques