Growing older deserves good evidence, plainly told.
We gather what the published research and official statistics say about aging, dementia and care, check every figure against its source, and give it away — for the charities, carers and families who need it.
Everything we hold on one subject, in one place
Dementia & Health
Open, fully-sourced research on dementia across the UK: diagnosis, health and hospital care, care and support, carers and inequalities, with international comparison. Free to cite.
Being researched and checked nowEvery number has a source you can open.
Published data, not estimates
Figures come from official statistics and peer-reviewed research. Where a figure is contested or a dataset is thin, the study says so.
Checked at the source
Every figure is checked against the original publication, then checked again by a second, independent review before anything is published.
No number without a date
Each study says what period its figures cover and when we last checked them, so you can see how current it is.
Written with people, not about them
We write about people living with dementia and the people who care for them with respect, and we use the language they ask for.
Rachael and Jim
Understanding Aging is run by Rachael and Jim, who have a cottage in Scotland. We research, write and check everything here ourselves, and if a page leaves you with a question, write to us and one of us will reply.
How this site is paid for
We are a small commercial business, not a charity. The research is free; it is paid for by referral fees from guides to pensions and equity release elsewhere on the site. Nobody who pays us has any say in what the research says. The full arrangement is set out at the foot of every page.