Official Statistics

Dementia profile: prevalence and supporting well topics statistical commentary, March 2025

Published 4 March 2025

Applies to England

What’s new

New data for the years 2021, 2023 and 2024 has been added to indicators in the prevalence topic of the dementia profile. This updates 3 indicators for England, NHS regions, integrated care board (ICB) areas and sub locations of ICB.

The 3 prevalence of diagnosed dementia indicators that have been updated are:

• people aged 65 years and older
• people aged under 65 years of age
• people aged under 65 years of age as a percentage of all with a dementia diagnosis

New data for the years 2021 to 2023 has also been added to indicators in the supporting well topic. This update is to 3 indicators for England, health geographies (NHS regions, ICB areas and sub locations) and administrative geographies (including regions and upper tier local authorities).  

The 3 care home related indicators that have been updated are:

• quality rating of residential care and nursing care home beds
• relative residential care and nursing care home bed capacity
• recently assessed residential care and nursing care home beds

Introduction

The aim of the dementia profile is to improve the availability and accessibility of data and intelligence around ‘The Well Pathway for Dementia’ available on the NHS England Dementia page. The profile provides an overview across health geographies and administrative geographies in England, to support ICBs and local authorities in the commissioning and planning of local dementia services.

Data presented in indicators in this publication use the primary care dementia data published by NHS England and the care directory data sheet from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Changes in rates and percentages described below are determined by statistical significance.

Main findings

Indicators updated in the dementia profile show:

• by December 2024, the count of people with a formal diagnosis of dementia, aged 65 years and older, had increased to 483,000, a record high for England
• the prevalence rate in 2024 was 4.2% of the primary care registered population, which was lower than the peak in 2017 (4.3%), but higher than in 2021 (3.9%)
• the count of people with dementia aged under 65 in 2024 was 15,300, which was higher than in 2021 (14,800)
• the prevalence rate of diagnosed dementia in people aged under 65 in 2024 was 2.9 per 10,000 population registered with primary care, which was a continuation of the decreasing trend since the peak in 2018 (3.4 per 10,000)
• the percentage of care home beds, available to people with dementia, in care homes rated good and above by CQC inspectors, reached 74.5% in England in 2023, returning to pre-COVID-19 levels
• the count of beds rated good and above in 2023 was at a record level of 253,200, with the total care home beds available to people with dementia also being at a record high of 340,000
• the care home bed capacity ratio in England in 2023 was approximately 3 care home beds designated for people with dementia per 4 people aged 65 years and older with a formal diagnosis of dementia (73.3%), lower than the ratio in 2021 (76.5%)
• since 2020, both the count of care home beds and the count of people with dementia have increased, with the count of people with dementia increasing at a greater rate (7.6% and 9.6% respectively)

Variations across England

Variation exists across ICB areas of England in 2024 in terms of the prevalence rate for a formal diagnosis of dementia in people aged 65 years and older. Rates range from 3.6% to 4.8% of the registered population, with 29 of the 42 areas the same or above the England rate.

Rates for the prevalence of formally diagnosed dementia in the under 65 year old population also varies by ICB, with the range being from 1.6 to 5.4 people per 10,000 registered population. However, around 22% of the 6,173 primary care practices in England reported no cases of dementia in this population.

The availability of care home beds rated good and better by ICB ranges from 52.3% to 89.1% in 2023, with 21 ICBs exceeding the England rate.

Care home capacity also varies across ICB in England from approximately 4 beds per 10 individuals with dementia (43.3%) to 10 beds per 10 individuals with dementia (100%) in 2023. Of the 42 ICB areas, 20 have rates above the England value (73.3%).  

Context for care home indicators

Previous analysis of CQC data found that in December 2023 there were 7,504 care homes (with 1 bed or more) registered with the CQC in England, that offer services to older people with dementia. The potentially available bed count in these care homes is 340,000, although it is expected that each care home will have its limitations on the actual numbers where safe provision can be provided.

NHS England’s primary care dementia data publication states that 169,500 (34%) people with a formal diagnosis of dementia currently have residency in a care home. However, in their facts for the media about dementia, the Alzheimer’s Society estimate that 70% of people in care homes have dementia or severe memory problems. This would equate to approximately 348,000 people for England.

Contact

The responsible statistician and product lead is the programme lead (national dementia intelligence) of the Clinical Epidemiology division in the Department of Health and Social Care.

If you have any queries relating to this document, contact ndi@dhsc.gov.uk.