The number of dementia patients in South Korea is rising quickly, and with it the burden on families who must care for them. Singer Tae Jin-ah, who has cared for his wife through seven years of dementia, said he has cut back about 90% of his outside work, including broadcast appearances and events.
Dementia Cases Up 24% in Five Years
Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service big data shows the number of dementia patients in Korea rose 23.9% in five years, from 606,247 in 2021 to 751,250 last year.
The main driver is population aging. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's 2023 Nationwide Survey on Dementia Epidemiology, dementia prevalence climbs steeply from age 75 and exceeds 20% among those 85 and over. Because the elderly population itself is growing, the absolute number of patients can rise even if the prevalence rate falls.
Prevalence among those 65 and over was 9.25% in 2023, down 0.25 percentage point from 9.50% in 2016. Yet with aging accelerating, the number of dementia patients is expected to keep growing over the long term.
Mild cognitive impairment, which carries a high risk of progressing to dementia, is also increasing. Prevalence among those 65 and over rose 6.17 percentage points, from 22.25% in 2016 to 28.42% in 2023. The ministry said more detailed diagnostic criteria and expanded early screening have led to more cases being caught before they worsen into dementia.
Singer Cuts 90% of His Work to Care for His Wife
More dementia patients also means more families facing years at a patient's side.
In a Chuseok holiday special of "THE NEW Scent of Heaven's Light," posted on the CGN YouTube channel on the 22nd, Tae Jin-ah said he has been caring for his wife, Lee Ok-hyung, for seven years since she was diagnosed with dementia.
His day begins with her medication. "I have to give her about 13 different medicines, split into roughly 13 doses a day," Tae said. His wife no longer has the cognitive ability to go to the bathroom alone, he said, so he changes her diaper briefs himself.
As the caregiving stretched on, he sharply reduced his work. "If you say there was 100% of what I used to do, about 90% of it is gone. About 10% is left," he said. "The other 90% has to be spent beside my wife."
Asked why he keeps caring for her, he said: "She is someone who has every right to receive everything from me. I have a duty to do anything for her." He also writes songs himself and sings them to her repeatedly so she can remember more easily.
As in Tae's case, dementia caregiving can last for years depending on the patient's condition. A survey by the Alzheimer's Association in the United States found the average duration of care for a dementia patient was about four years. For 15% of all patients, care continued for more than 10 years.
Time is not the only cost families absorb. In a Ministry of Health and Welfare survey, 45.8% of families of dementia patients living in the community said they felt burdened by caregiving. The most cited difficulty was financial strain, at 38.3%.
Caregiving can also disrupt a family member's working life. In a 2023 survey of 1,000 adults caring for family members by the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union, 61.2% said they had experienced mental distress from caregiving stress. Some 16.5% reported conflict within the family, 13.1% said they had quit their jobs because of caregiving, and 5.2% said they had given up their studies.
Cost per Patient Reaches 26.39 Million Won a Year
As patient numbers grow and care stretches on, the social cost of dementia is climbing. According to "Korean Dementia Observatory 2024," released by the National Institute of Dementia, national dementia management costs came to 22.9 trillion won ($16.5 billion) in 2023. That was equal to 0.95% of gross domestic product, then about 2,401 trillion won.
The annual cost of managing a single dementia patient was 26.39 million won, up 18.9% from the previous year. That amounts to 43.8% of annual household income of 60.29 million won, calculated from Statistics Korea's household trends survey for the fourth quarter of 2023.
Costs tied to long-term care rose especially sharply. Long-term care spending per person was 11.04 million won, a 283.6% jump from about 2.88 million won a year earlier. The number of dementia patients using long-term care services rose 9.2%, from about 410,000 to 450,000. Total long-term care spending rose 17.2% over the same period, from about 6.21 trillion won to 7.27 trillion won.
If dementia cases keep rising alongside aging, the burden on families and society is set to grow further. The Ministry of Health and Welfare projected that the number of dementia patients in Korea will rise from 970,000 in 2025 to more than 1 million in 2026, and surpass 2 million by 2044. Dementia brings not only medical costs for diagnosis and treatment but also daily care, long-term nursing and reduced economic activity for family members. With the 1 million patient mark approaching, support measures to ease the caregiving burden on families are drawing greater attention.
