A high number of elderly suffering from impaired mental faculties are known to live in the 11 countries with the highest dementia rates in the world. Dementia is a broader term that encompasses a number of mental impairments the older generation often go through. Dementia can be referred to cases of memory loss and impairment of normal brain functions like movement or speech. Even drastic changes in personality caused by age can be traced back as dementia. One of the most known diseases related to dementia is Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is essentially a person that keeps losing track of his/her memory for short or long periods of time. This can result in a number of problems as the person can start to forget people and events. There is no known cure for this disease.
Often times the lack of good health care can lead to dementia. Though it is mostly attributed to stress and pressures one experience mentally as as he/she age. A study has shown that Alzheimer’s often affects people with high mental strain, like doctors, lawyers, businessmen, etc. A lot of governments and clinics in the world are taking steps to ensure that the number of people affected by dementia decreases. You can get more information about healthcare efforts in our list of 11 Countries with the Best Healthcare in the World.
What countries do you think are affected by dementia the most? Let’s check the first country listed here:
11. Norway
Due to the high rate of dementia in Norway, the health care sector started a program that would specifically handle patients with Dementia. They are the first country to implement a program tackling these types of sicknesses. In line with the program they’ve made more facilities catering to these types of patients.
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10. Spain
Over 800,000 people in Spain live with Alzheimer’s, and that is just one type of dementia. According to researchers the victims usually have 5-8 years before symptoms get worse. There have been numerous medications produced that hope to prevent dementia, but there has never been a full cure.
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9. Andorra
Dementia has been increasing to the point that it has become one of the main causes of death for some countries like Andorra. Even with such high life expectancy from its residents, a lot of them suffer from dementia.
8. Chile
Despite Chile’s lack of an excellent healthcare system, they have been making significant progress in treating Dementia. They have made treatment systems that hope to help people suffering from early stages of dementia. Patients attend full-time sessions that mostly consist of social and cognitive exercises.
7. Cuba
Due to the high rate of dementia in Cuba, there have been a lot of places springing up catering to people who are suffering from the disease. A lot of places like these have staff on-call and specialized staff.
6. Switzerland
Like many of the countries experiencing a high number of dementia among its elderly, Switzerland has also made efforts to establish a body that handles concerns for the sickness. The Swiss Alzheimer Association hopes to raise awareness and train more specialists as the rates continue to increase.
Countries with even higher rates of dementia are still to come in this list of the 11 countries with the highest dementia rates in the world.
5. Netherlands
Netherlands has one of the most unique treatment systems for dementia. They’ve created an actual village where people with dementia can live and have normal lives. They do something similar to the Truman show, where a person is taken into an alternate reality. All of the other people in the village if not patients, are either trained staff or medical professionals posing as townspeople.
4. Sweden
Much like most of the countries in this list, Sweden also has a governing body and a lot of centres and facilities that cater to patients with dementia. These efforts according to statistics have been decreasing the rate of dementia for the country.
3. United States
The number of elderly care facilities in America is a good indication of how high the dementia rate is. Many attribute the increasing number to the fast-paced life and high standards of living in the country. Research suggests that Hispanics and African-Americans have a higher tendency of acquiring dementia.
2. Iceland
The high rate of dementia in Iceland might have actually produced a rare genetic anomaly. According to scientists about 1% of the population in Iceland have a specific genome pattern that prevents them from having dementia later on in life.
1. Finland
Finland has been experiencing a high number of people with dementia in the last few years. These rates have also increased the death toll from the disease. Many researchers are conducting studies here to determine what causes dementia later in life. There was even a study that correlated high amounts of coffee and tea drinking to dementia.
That is our list of the 11 countries with the highest rates of dementia in the world. Many can argue that dementia may just be a product of our aging bodies, though many still take an effort to prevent the mind from unravelling.
