Economic Impact of Care-Giving
Human cost of care-giving set aside, the economic impact on society is also significant. According to World Alzheimer Report 2010, in 2010 caring for Dementia was estimated to be a $604B worldwide of which more than $500B was just in the Informal and Social care (non-medical care). This representing close to 1% of global GDP, there is a global concern on the financial consequences of this problem on the health of the nations. If cost is considered proportional to incidence of problem, then by 2050 the costs could be 4X the 2010 numbers. Although costs for non-
dementia care would probably lower, it is worth noting that dementia only accounts for 10% of the 60 years and older age group. By some estimates the target user group (patients, elders, care-givers) would be a 1B+ number worldwide.
Given the scale of the problem, even small improvements in care-giving work-load has significant economic value to the society. For example, by our estimate, reducing care-giving workload by 1 hr. a day for dementia care has a value of about $20B a year just in US.