September 21·Every year

World Alzheimer's Day

September 21st is World Alzheimer's Day, part of World Alzheimer's Month throughout September. Over 55 million people worldwide live with dementia, and Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60 to 70% of those cases. The disease was first described by Alois Alzheimer in 1906; a treatment to slow its progression only received FDA approval in 2023.

Category: Awareness
Observed in: United StatesofficialUnited KingdomofficialAustraliaofficialCanadaofficialJapanofficial

On this day in history →See the calendar Learn more ↗

Also on this day

Full history →

Notable · 2013

Unidentified gunmen began a three-day attack on the upmarket Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, resulting in the deaths of 67 people with at least another 175 wounded.

2019A 5.6 Mw earthquake shakes the Albanian port of Durrës. Forty-nine people are injured in the capital, Tirana.
2018LGBT rights activist Zak Kostopoulos is beaten to death on a busy street in Athens
2015Adventist Health System agreed to pay $118.7 million to settle allegations of fraud. It was the largest a hospital network has ever paid.