The number of people living with dementia across the world could more than triple by 2050, according to a new report.
The Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) policy brief for the upcoming G8 Dementia Summit in London, England said there is an estimated 44 million people worldwide have dementia.
"It's a global epidemic and it is only getting worse," said ADI's executive director Marc Wortmann.
"If we look into the future the numbers of elderly people will rise dramatically. It's vital that the World Health Organization makes dementia a priority, so the world is ready to face this condition."
That number is expected to reach 76 million in 2030 and 135 million by 2050. Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, is a fatal brain disease that has no cure and few effective treatments.
The projected number of people with dementia in 2050 is now 17 percent higher than ADI estimated in the 2009 World Alzheimer Report.
Rebecca Wood, the chief executive of Alzheimer's Research UK, told the BBC: "Increasing numbers of people affected by dementia worldwide is cause for alarm, but research can stem the tide.
"An intervention to delay the onset of Alzheimer's by five years could halve the number of people who die with the disease, having a transformative impact on millions of people's lives.
"This progress can only come through research and these figures are a timely reminder of the scale of the challenge ahead of the G8 dementia research summit."
