The number of people battling with dementia is increasing rapidly across the world, with nearly 47 million cases worldwide. Experts believe that it is high time to take a strict action on the dementia epidemic.

The World Alzheimer Report 2015 has provided updates on estimates of the global prevalence, incidence and costs of dementia. The report suggested that as the global population is aging, the number of people with dementia will almost triple, reaching to an estimated level of 131 million by 2050.

Experts said they underestimated the current and the future scale of dementia epidemic by almost 12% to 13% in the 2009 report.

Alzheimer's Australia CEO, Carol Bennett, said in a statement that the report confirmed the exponential increase in prevalence nationally. “There are currently more than 342,800 Australians living with dementia, this figure is expected to rise to almost 900,000 by 2050”, she said.

Bennett also said that the new report clearly mentioned that it is high time to take global action against dementia. It also highlighted that we all have some role to play to reduce the increasing prevalence on a global scale, she added.

The figures of the report included the scaling up of research investment for dementia in proportion to the societal cost of the disease. The report recommended increasing research investments for dementia in proportion to the societal cost of the disease.

Dementia risk reduction should be a priority for the World Health Organization, it mentioned. Dementia is an umbrella term for degenerative diseases of the brain characterized by a gradual decline in the ability to think and remember. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia.