Globally, 25.2 Million Projected to Be Living With Parkinson Disease in 2050

MONDAY, March 10, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The prevalence of Parkinson disease is projected to increase through 2050, according to a study published online March 5 in The BMJ.

Using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, Dongning Su, M.D., from Capital Medical University in Beijing, and colleagues conducted a modeling study to predict the global, regional, and national prevalence of Parkinson disease by age, sex, year, and Sociodemographic Index to 2050.

The researchers projected that in 2050, 25.2 million people will be living with Parkinson disease, representing a 112 percent increase from 2021. The primary contributor to growth in cases from 2021 to 2050 was population aging (89 percent), followed by population growth (20 percent) and changes in prevalence (3 percent). The prevalence of Parkinson disease was projected to be 267 cases per 100,000 in 2050, representing a 76 percent increase from 2021, while the age-standardized prevalence was set to be 216 per 100,000, representing a 55 percent increase. The highest percentage increase in the all-age prevalence and age-standardized prevalence of Parkinson disease between 2021 and 2050 was projected for countries in the middle fifth of the Sociodemographic Index (144 and 91 percent, respectively). Globally, from 2021 to 2050, the male-to-female ratios of age standardized prevalence of Parkinson disease were projected to increase from 1.46 to 1.64.

“Public health interventions, which may alter the prevalence of risk/protective factors, offer promising prospects for arresting the universal rise in prevalence of Parkinson”s disease in the future,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text

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