British health experts say that deaths caused by dementia are rising at a much faster rate than expected. In just one year, nearly 70,000 people lost their lives due to this devastating brain disease.
According to new data, there were 2,500 additional deaths caused by the disease in England last year. In 2025, more than 68,000 people died due to dementia, accounting for nearly one in every six recorded deaths from major causes.
This marks ten years since dementia overtook heart disease to become the leading cause of death in the United Kingdom.
It is a deeply concerning situation, as the disease has retained its position as the deadliest illness since then, except during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021 when more deaths were caused by Covid-19.
According to official figures from the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales, more than 500,000 deaths were registered in England and Wales in 2014. Of these, around 66,000 deaths were caused by heart disease, making it the leading cause of death overall.
In comparison, dementia, including its most common form Alzheimer’s disease, caused just under 60,000 deaths in the same year. By 2015, the situation had changed, with around 530,000 total deaths recorded in England and Wales, of which approximately 61,700 were due to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This pushed dementia ahead of heart disease, which caused slightly more than 61,000 deaths.
However, according to newly released data this week, deaths from the disease were higher than expected, highlighting its growing lethality.
