Most of what dementia costs Europe never appears on a hospital ledger. Researchers estimating the economic burden across high-income European countries found that 58% of total dementia-related costs stem from unpaid care provided by family members, friends and other informal caregivers. That unpaid care came to 128 billion euros annually, outstripping direct healthcare costs of 93 billion euros.
The same analysis put the number of people living with dementia in these countries at roughly 8.8 million in 2019, with associated costs equal to about 1.6% of regional GDP. Dementia already ranks among Europe's leading causes of disability, dependency and death in older adults, and the researchers expect both case numbers and costs to climb substantially as populations age.
The practical message for families is one many already know from experience: the work of helping someone dress, eat, manage medications and stay safe has real economic value, even though no one invoices for it. Putting a figure on that work matters because policy tends to follow measured costs. When the ledger only counts clinic visits and drugs, the people doing the bulk of the caring remain invisible to the systems that might otherwise support them.
The researchers describe the scale of informal care as one of the study's most striking findings, noting that this contribution is routinely overlooked despite being essential to supporting people with dementia. The estimates reflect 2019 data, so they predate the pandemic years, and they cover high-income European countries rather than the continent as a whole.