— Overview
One in ten older people, the presentation says, was living with dementia. That line belongs to 2016. Of some 6.86 million older people that year, 685,739 were counted as living with dementia, a prevalence of 10 percent. Men were 28.6 percent, women 71.4 percent. Severity was given as very mild 17.0 percent, mild 40.5, moderate 26.6, severe 15.9. The National Assembly Budget Office had projected total management costs from 13.2 trillion won in 2015 to 106.5 trillion won in 2050. A table in the slides puts the number of older people with dementia at 660,000 in 2015, 710,000 in 2020, 800,000 in 2030, 1.26 million in 2040, and 1.80 million in 2050. Those are the presentation’s dated figures and forecasts, not a 2026 official update. The Dementia National Responsibility System is described as a policy that treats dementia as too heavy for patients and families alone, and puts continuous prevention, early detection, care, and support at the national level. In a 2017 supplementary budget, 202.3 billion won was set aside for infrastructure. The plan was to expand support centers — later called dementia relief centers — from 47 to 252, and specialized wards from 34 to 79, with 5,125 extra case-management jobs and 25 staff per center. Existing counseling desks in public health centers had, on average, only 1.6 people, which the slides treat as too thin for first response and ongoing support.
The slides leave the plan in 2017; they do not report later results. Local cases include Chungcheongbuk-do’s “province without dementia and stroke,” begun in 2012 and expanded in 2017 with about 56 billion won, lowering the age for detailed screening from 60 to 50. In Ulsan Buk-gu, “Our Village Dementia Sarangbang” used senior centers, easier to reach than a health center, for people aged 60 and over and for those at high risk. Memory and cognitive training ran ten times a month; sites grew from five to ten. Satisfaction was given as 95 percent; cognitive scores improved for 58 percent, held steady for 30 percent, with an average rise of 10.4 points, and a daily-activity score rose by 1.45. Limits named are money (an ageing society grows the numbers faster than the funds), workforce, and a hospital-centered policy that misses everyday care. In December 2016, long-term care workers numbered 333,887, social workers 15,000, nurses 2,755, aides 9,766, occupational therapists 2,083, and others 40,635, a total of 403,874. Proposals include a fairer insurance-contribution system, prevention and early detection to reduce social cost, and adjusted qualifications and better conditions for long-term care staff. A fuller Korean report on the same ground is on CampusDown.
— Contents and key concepts
The 2016 count, and a 2017 plan
One in ten older people, the presentation says, was living with dementia. That line belongs to 2016. Of some 6.86 million older people that year, 685,739 were counted as living with dementia, a prevalence of 10 percent. Men were 28.6 percent, women 71.4 percent. Severity was given as very mild 17.0 percent, mild 40.5, moderate 26.6, severe 15.9. The National Assembly Budget Office had projected total management costs from 13.2 trillion won in 2015 to 106.5 trillion won in 2050. A table in the slides puts the number of older people with dementia at 660,000 in 2015, 710,000 in 2020, 800,000 in 2030, 1.26 million in 2040, and 1.80 million in 2050. Those are the presentation’s dated figures and forecasts, not a 2026 official update.
The Dementia National Responsibility System is described as a policy that treats dementia as too heavy for patients and families alone, and puts continuous prevention, early detection, care, and support at the national level. In a 2017 supplementary budget, 202.3 billion won was set aside for infrastructure. The plan was to expand support centers — later called dementia relief centers — from 47 to 252, and specialized wards from 34 to 79, with 5,125 extra case-management jobs and 25 staff per center. Existing counseling desks in public health centers had, on average, only 1.6 people, which the slides treat as too thin for first response and ongoing support. The slides leave the plan in 2017; they do not report later results.
A room in a senior center, and three limits
Local cases include Chungcheongbuk-do’s “province without dementia and stroke,” begun in 2012 and expanded in 2017 with about 56 billion won, lowering the age for detailed screening from 60 to 50. In Ulsan Buk-gu, “Our Village Dementia Sarangbang” used senior centers, easier to reach than a health center, for people aged 60 and over and for those at high risk. Memory and cognitive training ran ten times a month; sites grew from five to ten. Satisfaction was given as 95 percent; cognitive scores improved for 58 percent, held steady for 30 percent, with an average rise of 10.4 points, and a daily-activity score rose by 1.45.
Limits named are money (an ageing society grows the numbers faster than the funds), workforce, and a hospital-centered policy that misses everyday care. In December 2016, long-term care workers numbered 333,887, social workers 15,000, nurses 2,755, aides 9,766, occupational therapists 2,083, and others 40,635, a total of 403,874. Proposals include a fairer insurance-contribution system, prevention and early detection to reduce social cost, and adjusted qualifications and better conditions for long-term care staff. A fuller Korean report on the same ground is on CampusDown.
Sources
- A presentation that uses 2016 counts and 2017 budget and expansion plans for Korea’s Dementia National Responsibility System, and reports a senior-center program in Ulsan Buk-gu. All figures and forecasts are left in the years the slides give them, with press sources from 2014 and 2017.
Last updated: 14 November 2026
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