“In 2012 there were nearly 50,000 strokes in Australia – almost 1000 every week.” The increasing number of stroke victims in Australia has amounted to an overwhelming financial burden not only on the Australian government but on individual Australian’s who are struggling to pay for their medical expenses related to a recent stroke.

According to The National Stroke Foundation’s recent report entitled The economic impact of stroke in Australia, the economic burden of stroke has increased in 2012 from previous years and with the alarming number of stroke cases increasing, the financial cost of having a stroke will only increase overtime.

The report found that in 2012, there were 420,000 Australians currently living with the effects of stroke, which has a 20% increase from the previous years.

It is believed that individual Australians carry the greatest financial burden when it comes to having and recovering from a stroke. The 2013 report highlights that a combine burden from all Australians who experienced a stroke in 2012 was $2.2 billion.

Of the $2.2 billion, the largest cost was the loss of productivity amounting to $1.7 billion including $975 million alone in lost wages. For stroke patients, one of the biggest problems is lost of wages. This is due to increase sick leave from work for recovery resulting to loss of employment and/or any physical or mental disability caused by having a stroke which can make finding future employment difficult.