Download the PDF version of Teamspirit 229
Public Health England and the MS Society have just published a new estimate of the number of people with MS in the UK. We estimate that there are over 130,000 people living with MS in the UK. This means that 1 in every 500 people in the UK is living with MS. And that around 6,700 people are newly diagnosed each year in the UK.
This study estimates that there are more people with MS in the UK than we previously thought, but we don’t think this is because of an increase in the number of people getting MS. The higher estimate is likely to be due to a number of different factors. These include better recording and data management, changing diagnostic criteria so that people are diagnosed earlier and more accurately, and people with MS living longer.
Crucially for the MS Society and people with MS, having a more accurate picture of the number of people affected by MS means that we are able to present the true impact of MS on the many different services and support structures that are needed by people affected by MS. And, we are better able to show the impact when these are not working well.
The full report with age and gender breakdowns for the UK and each of the four nations can be found here.
Contact: Evidence Team
