Micron Associates: Plan now to meet rising costs of dementia patients

Looking back can sometimes show the way forward. An example is Hong Kong's mortality statistics for the last 10 years and the implications for health care. The top 10 causes of death remained the same in 2013 as they were in 2003, except for changes in the order. But the number of deaths attributed to them rose by 18 per cent, from 31,101 in 2003 to 36,552 in 2013, compared with a rise of 5 per cent in the population to 7.25 million. The discrepancy is not explained by more deaths from other causes. It results from a demographic phenomenon of which economists and policy advisers have been warning us - ageing of the population.