The cost of age-related non-communicable diseases is staggering. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, in the next 10 years, China, India, and Britain will lose $558 billion, $237 billion, and $33 billion, respectively, in national income as a result of heart disease, strokes, and diabetes.
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Today more than 35 million people worldwide have dementia, increasing to 65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million in 2050. Total costs for people with dementia amount to more than 1 percent of global GDP, or $604 billion, in 2010. (Alzheimer's Disease International)
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The risk of having a stroke more than doubles each decade after the age of 55.
(Internet Stroke Center)
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Sarcopenia, the medical condition referring to the age-related loss of muscle, affects about 10 percent of Americans over 60, with higher rates as age advances, and accounted for a direct medical cost of $18.5 billion in 2000, or 1.5 percent of the nation's health care spending. (American Geriatrics Society)
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40 to 50 percent of Americans who live to age 65 will have non-melanoma skin cancer at least once. (National Cancer Institute)
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A typical advanced economy likely will increase its health-care costs by 4.8 percent
of GDP by 2050. (Standard & Poor's)
Global investment in non-communicable diseases is imperative. The 20th century brought about an increase in lifespan – the “longevity miracle.” The 21st must be about making the most of that miracle.
