Stroke victim numbers will grow: report AUSTRALIA'S stroke victim numbers are set to grow to catastrophic levels, the Stroke Foundation says. Launching a new report costing the national impact of strokes, Stroke Foundation chief executive Erin Lalor said successive governments had neglected the area. Previous estimates had put the number of Australian stroke victims at 350,000, but the report found there were more than 420,000 stroke survivors in 2012. It said this was set to grow to 700,000 by 2032. Ms Lalor called it a "frightening level of growth." "Our calls for funding to reduce the amount of avoidable death and disability caused by stroke have fallen on deaf ears for too long," Dr Lalor said in a statement. There were almost 1000 strokes in Australia every week and last year there were almost 130,000 strokes in people aged under 65. The burden of disease costs in 2012 were close to $50 billion and the direct financial cost was $5 billion, according to the report. The Stroke Foundation called on the government to fund a $198 million national action plan it released last year to fund tackle the issue.