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Kia ora and welcome to Alzheimers New Zealand

This website provides support, information and contacts for people with dementia and their carers, family and whānau and community.

Dementia occurs as a result of physical changes in the structure of the brain which affect memory, thinking, behaviour and emotion. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia.

According to the Dementia Economic Impact Report 2008*:

• 40,746 New Zealanders currently have dementia
  

And it is estimated that by:

• 2026, 74,821 people will have dementia 
• 2050, 146,699 people will have dementia

For every one person in New Zealand with dementia, it takes seven pair of hands to help care for them. That's nearly 300,000 people nationwide affected by dementia. There is no cure.

According to the World Alzheimer's Report 2009* it is estimated that:

• 35 million people will have dementia worldwide by 2010
• The amount of people with dementia is almost doubling every 20 years

We hope this website provides you with the information you need. Please contact us with feedback and suggestions, or if you are looking for information not answered in our FAQs or throughout this website.

* The DEIR was commissioned by Alzheimers New Zealand and supported by the Alzheimers Charitable Trust and the Ministry of Health to provide statistics on the prevalence of dementia.  It also makes recommendations for coping with the growth of the disease in future. The World Alzheimer's Report 2009 was written by Alzheimers Disease International and released at the launch of World Alzheimer's Day, September 21, 2009.