[The Era of 10 Million Elderly]④ Over 1 Million Dementia Patients This Year... "By 2050, One in Every Couple in Their 80s Will Have Dementia"

Government Plans to Expand Dementia Management System
18 Dementia Relief Hospitals Designated Nationwide
Pilot Implementation of Dementia Management Primary Physicians in July
Operation of 256 Dementia Relief Centers

Dementia is a disease that is becoming as serious as the nation’s super-aged society.

According to the Central Dementia Center at the National Medical Center, it is estimated that 980,000 out of 9.46 million people aged 65 and over in Korea last year have dementia. This means that more than one in ten elderly people have dementia. The prevalence rises sharply with age: 8.5% for those aged 70-74, 27.1% for those aged 80-84, and 38% for those aged 85 and older. The Ministry of Health and Welfare expects the number of dementia patients to exceed 1 million this year and to surpass 3 million by 2050. A Ministry of Health and Welfare official said, "If a couple is over 80 years old in 2050, it means either one of them will have dementia."

▲Reviving memories in elderly dementia patients through art therapy.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s survey on the status of elderly dementia patients, the annual management cost per dementia patient was 21.12 million KRW in 2021. According to Statistics Korea, this amount accounts for 49.5% of the average annual household income in the same year. Families with dementia patients spend half of their income on patient care. The national annual dementia management cost in that year was 18.7 trillion KRW, which amounted to 0.9% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Japan, which is ahead of Korea in super-aging, estimates that by 2060, 34.3% of its population aged 65 and over will be classified as dementia patients, with social costs reaching 214 trillion KRW (according to the Korea Insurance Research Institute). Considering that Japan’s population is just over twice that of Korea, this gives an indication of the future burden Korea may face.

The government has prepared and is implementing policies to cope with the rapid increase in dementia. The "Dementia Relief Hospital" is a representative example. These hospital-level medical institutions have dedicated wards for dementia patients equipped with facilities and equipment tailored to the characteristics of dementia patients, staffed with neurologists, psychiatrists, and specialized nursing personnel who have expertise in dementia treatment and management. They provide integrated medical services from diagnosis and treatment to nursing care for dementia. Currently, 18 medical institutions nationwide, including Seoul’s Seobuk Hospital, are designated as Dementia Relief Hospitals. Yeom Min-seop, Director of Elderly Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "We plan to continue supporting the expansion of Dementia Relief Hospitals."

Starting in July, the "Dementia Management Primary Physician" system will be piloted. This service allows dementia patients to live at home and receive treatment and management from dementia-specialized medical staff instead of being admitted to hospitals or nursing facilities. Selected patients can receive four home visits annually for medical treatment and education counseling, and 12 dementia management sessions per year. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will conduct a one-year pilot project targeting 3,000 dementia patients, expand the pilot scale in July next year, and implement the full project in the second half of 2026.

The government is also running the "Dementia Relief Center" project, which manages high-risk groups from the mild cognitive impairment stage to prevent progression to severe dementia. Dementia Relief Centers care for mild dementia patients who can perform basic daily activities and are not severe enough to be admitted to nursing care centers but find it difficult to live alone at home. There are 256 Dementia Relief Centers nationwide in cities, counties, and districts. If registered at the Dementia Relief Center in their residential jurisdiction, patients can receive free early dementia screening. If diagnosed with dementia and registered, the center provides direct medical and welfare services or connects patients to external services.

Dementia Relief Centers operate in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Dementia Relief Village project. Dementia Relief Villages are communities where local residents show interest in dementia, dementia patients, and their families, creating an environment where they can live together. Dementia Relief Centers in each local government play a central role in this. In July last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held a contest for "Excellent Leading Projects of Dementia Relief Villages" and selected 48 Dementia Relief Centers, including those in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, as excellent cases. The goal is to support outstanding Dementia Relief Centers with budgets to develop and implement dementia management projects based on local community characteristics. A representative system of Dementia Relief Villages is the Dementia Relief Franchise. Local community retail stores join the franchise, and all employees complete dementia partner training to report and temporarily care for missing dementia patients.

In July last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare also selected 48 excellent leading projects of Dementia Relief Villages, including Gwangjin-gu, to strengthen community-based dementia management services and improve awareness of dementia. The excellent leading projects aim to discover and spread dementia management projects based on local community characteristics by supporting Dementia Relief Centers with planning capabilities. By region, there are 8 in Seoul, 1 in Busan, 1 in Gwangju, 3 in Ulsan, 4 in Gyeonggi, 1 in Gangwon, 8 in Chungnam, 2 in Jeonbuk, 9 in Jeonnam, 5 in Gyeongbuk, 5 in Gyeongnam, and 1 in Jeju.

According to the "Dementia Relief Center Registration Status" from the Central Dementia Center at the National Medical Center, as of the end of 2021, 4 million people were registered at Dementia Relief Centers. Among them, 500,000 had dementia and 150,000 had mild cognitive impairment. However, the registration rate of dementia patients at Dementia Relief Centers is only 51.7%. This means half of the dementia patients in Korea do not receive management services provided by the government.

In February this year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare requested cooperation from local governments, the Korean Medical Association, and the Korean Hospital Association to actively guide dementia patients and their caregivers to Dementia Relief Centers when patients are treated at medical institutions. Director Yeom said, "Recently, there was a case where a family caring for a dementia patient suffered alone without registering at a Dementia Relief Center or long-term care insurance and ended up making an extreme choice. Utilizing Dementia Relief Centers can provide great help to dementia patients and their families."