Dementia in Iran: How Soon it Becomes Late!

Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) forecast, by the year 2025 about 1.2 billion people will be at age 60 years and older, of which about three-quarters of them will reside in developing countries.1 The ageing of a population is caused by two processes: declining birth rates, decreasing the size of younger birth cohorts, and increasing life expectancy. In Iran, population fertility expressed as number of children per fertile woman decreased from 6.7 in the early 1980s to 1.8 in 2009, while life expectancy over the same period increased with 13.1 years (Figure 1). Now, 7% of the populationg is aged 60 and older, but if this country continues its ageing population growth at the current rate, it is predicted that by the year 2025 11% of the population will be age 60 years and older, and in 2050 even 28%.2 Such predictions are robust, as the concerned population of 60 and more in 2050 is now 20 year and older.