Research commissioned by Alzheimer’s NZ and conducted by Auckland University finds dementia is affecting three New Zealanders every hour, or 500 each week.
The study predicts the population with dementia will almost double by 2050, with costs exceeding $10 billion annually.
Alzheimer’s NZ chief executive Catherine Hall said dementia is “not a problem for the future. It’s one of the greatest health challenges New Zealand faces now.” She warned that “if we don’t act urgently, it risks overwhelming our health and aged care systems — and the impact on families, communities, and the economy will be enormous.”
Alzheimer’s NZ, Dementia NZ, the NZ Dementia Foundation, and Te Mate Wareware Advisory Rōpū have released a refreshed Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan 2026–2031.
The plan, presented to Associate Health Minister Casey Costello at the Alzheimer’s NZ summit, outlines five priorities: promoting brain health, timely diagnosis, stronger community services, workforce support, and improved sector governance.
An earlier plan, published in 2020, was endorsed by the Labour-led government, which funded pilot projects in 2022. Hall noted that “no further action or funding had followed and the plan was never fully realised.”
The sector is urging the government to fairly fund the 17 dementia services they describe as “chronically under-funded” and to create a national older persons’ health and aged care strategy built on an integrated continuum of care.
“New Zealand faces a massive demographic shift in the next 20 years, and with it will come a huge number of new dementia cases, potentially overwhelming the health system and creating a major fiscal burden, unless we act now,” Hall said.