Dementia is a syndrome characterized by the acquired loss of cognitive and emotional abilities, which interferes with daily activities and reduces the quality of life. It is important to distinguish dementia from senile forgetfulness because they manifest themselves in very similar symptoms, but the course of the disease itself differs significantly. With senile forgetfulness, people can remember new information, while people suffering from dementia cannot remember new information. People with dementia have a very poor memory of events that happened recently, but they remember very well events from childhood, youth or the distant past. Today, more than 50 diseases that can cause dementia are known, and the most famous is Alzheimer's dementia. The role of the nurse in the care of patients with dementia is very important and demanding, and includes nursing diagnoses, nursing interventions, as well as the principles that every nurse must adhere to when caring for patients with dementia. The role of the nurse is also to work intensively with the family of the sick person as well as caregivers in order to provide quality advice for the care of the sick person, information about the disease itself and advice to improve the quality of life of a person with dementia. Sometimes the family and the environment react negatively to learning about the disease itself, so the nurse must have enough patience and understanding towards the patient's family. The health care of patients is quite specific because the nurse is not only focused on patient care, such as feeding and hygiene, but it is necessary to encourage the sick person to be independent as much as possible, that is, that the person only performs certain tasks as much as is possible. Forecasts regarding the appearance of dementia are unfortunately not at all optimistic, so some studies predict a real epidemic of this disease, i.e. by 2050, when it is expected that there could be more than 115 million affected people globally. Today, efforts are being made to diagnose dementia as early as possible, which is important for patients and their families, to be able to offer them a continuous and high-quality treatment and care program. Today, dementia is gaining more and more importance both within neurology and psychiatry as well as in the segment of family medicine and public health issues. The latest epidemiological data show that currently around 47 million people suffer from dementia in the world, and that for every person with the disease, at least 3 other people, most often as informal caregivers, bear this heavy burden. Unfortunately, dementia is an incurable condition, but the course of the disease itself can be prolonged by using antidementia drugs and other psycho pharmaceuticals, which can slow down the course of the disease and improve the quality of life of patients and their caregivers. In the management of the disease, it is necessary to use non-pharmacological interventions as they have also been shown to be effective. Croatia is a country whose average population is one of the oldest in Europe, which is why it is necessary to make an action plan for the fight against dementia and prepare much more seriously for the coming epidemic of this disease in the near future.