Alzheimer's Australia president Ita Buttrose says she is surprised that close to 24,000 people under 65 had dementia in 2011.

She hopes data, released in a new report on Thursday, will convince policy makers to put more money into researching the illness.

'Dementia is grossly under funded in relation to other chronic diseases,' she said in Canberra.

'Now is the time to act if we are to tackle the dementia epidemic.'

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report into dementia reveals that the number of people suffering from dementia is expected to triple to 900,000 by 2050.

It is estimated about 300,000 Australians have dementia and it's thought 400,000 people will be suffering from the disease by 2020.

The AIHW report Dementia in Australia reveals the disease was the third leading cause of death in 2010 accounting for six per cent of all deaths. Twice as many women as men die from dementia.

But the figure that caught Ms Buttrose's eye was that 23,900 people under 65 suffered from dementia in 2011.

'This is significantly higher than other figures that I have seen,' she said.

Ms Buttrose renewed her call for the government to provide $200 million for dementia research in the 2013/14 budget.

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Dementia grossly under funded - Buttrose