Which EU Country Has the Highest Dementia Rate?

Key Takeaways

• Italy has the EU’s highest dementia prevalence rate. It reaches 2.43% of the population.
• 1.85 million people live with dementia in Germany in 2025. No other EU country has more people living with dementia.
• Germany’s dementia prevalence rate ranks only fourth in the EU despite its larger dementia case count. 
• Dementia affects 2.02% of the EU’s population. That equals 9.07 million people across the EU’s 27 member states.
• Italy’s high dementia prevalence rate is due to its older population. Its median age reached 49.1 years (January 2025). That is the EU’s highest median age.
• Age drives Italy’s high dementia prevalence rate. Population size drives Germany’s and France’s high dementia case counts.

Dementia Prevalence Rates Across EU Countries

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Italy Has the Highest Dementia Prevalence Rate in the EU

Italy has the EU’s highest dementia prevalence rate. It leads a group of Southern European countries with the EU’s top three dementia prevalence rates:

• Italy: 2.43% 
• Greece: 2.38% 
• Portugal: 2.29% 

Age is the primary risk factor for dementia. Dementia affects 0.56% of EU adults aged 60 to 64. The dementia prevalence rate climbs to 40.57% among those aged 90 and older.

The same age-specific dementia prevalence rates are applied to every EU country’s own population. A country’s ranking mostly reflects its population’s age, not differences in healthcare or diagnosis.

Median age marks the point where half a country’s population is older, and half is younger. A higher median age means more residents sit in those higher-risk age groups.

Italy’s median age reached 49.1 years in January 2025. No EU country is older. The EU-wide average is 44.9 years.

Likewise, residents aged 65 and up make up 25.10% of Italy’s population. That’s 2.7 percentage points above the EU27 figure.

Italy’s dementia rate will climb to 4.28% of the population by 2050.

Germany Has the EU’s Largest Number of People Living With Dementia

Dementia prevalence rate and dementia case count measure different things. Dementia case count means the total number of people who have dementia, not a percentage of the population.

Germany’s dementia prevalence rate isn’t the EU’s highest. But its dementia case count is the largest in the EU.

An estimated 1.85 million people live with dementia in Germany in 2025. Germany’s dementia prevalence rate reaches 2.20% of its population. Its rate ranks only fourth in the EU.

It is home to 84.1 million residents.

Germany combines a dementia prevalence rate above the EU’s 2.02% average with the largest population in the EU. That combination produces the highest total dementia case count in the EU.

France combines a similar dementia prevalence rate above average with a large population. Its 1.42 million people living with dementia rank third in the EU. Its dementia prevalence rate ranks only fifth in the EU.

Residents aged 65 and up make up 23.70% of Germany’s population. That’s only 1.3 percentage points above the EU27 average for that age group. The gap is too small to explain Germany’s dementia case count on its own.

Germany’s high dementia case count comes mostly from population size, not population age. France’s large population plays a similar role in its own dementia case count. However, Italy’s high dementia prevalence rate comes down to age.

Looking ahead, the EU’s population will keep aging. Dementia risk rises with age.

The number of people living with dementia in EU27 countries will rise by 58% by 2050. That’s roughly one and a half times as many people.

More people living with dementia means more families providing daily care. It also means more pressure on hospitals and care systems across the EU.