That number is expected to increase to 4450 people by 2025, and to 7700 by 2056.

Nationally, the number of people with dementia has soared to more than 400,000.

A new report has estimated the cost to the community of dementia will be more than $14 billion this year alone.

The research predicts this number will climb by another $4 billion in just eight years as the number of people living with the condition continues to rise dramatically.

The report, The Economic Cost of Dementia in Australia 2016-2056, commissioned by Alzheimer’s Australia, has found that if nothing is done to reduce the incidence of dementia, the cost will blow out to more than $18 billion by 2025, in today’s dollars.

However, the report also found that just a five per cent reduction in the number of people with dementia over the age of 65 could lead to savings of $5.7 billion from 2016-25, and a staggering $120.4 billion by 2056.

Alzheimer’s Australia NSW chief executive officer John Watkins said the figures contained in the report, by the University of Canberra’s National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM), were alarming and a big wake-up call.

He has renewed the call for a funded national dementia strategy to deal with the issue.

“Despite the social and economic impact we still do not have a fully-funded national strategy to provide better care and outcomes for people who are living with dementia now, nor are we taking risk reduction seriously in order to try to reduce the numbers of people living with dementia in the future.

“The time for action is now. If we don’t do something now, the cost is going to continue to grow to unsustainable levels.”

In the 2017-18 submission to the federal government, Alzheimer’s Australia has called for a staged approach to implementing a national dementia strategy, with immediate action on funding.