QUICK FACTS

GENERAL FACTS

In adults, type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes.
Diet (including losing excess body weight) and exercise remain the most effective treatments for type 2 diabetes, however, often due to a lack of compliance by patients and disease progression, medical professionals must turn to the use of non-insulin prescription drugs to help manage the disease. As the disease progresses, insulin may also be prescribed.
Up to 80% of type 2 diabetes is preventable by adopting a healthy diet and increasing physical activity.
On average, people with type 2 diabetes will die 5-10 years before people without diabetes, mostly due to cardiovascular disease.

Diabetes currently affects 246 million people worldwide and is expected to affect 380 million by 2025.
In 2007, the five countries with the largest numbers of people with diabetes are India (40.9 million), China (39.8 million), the United States (19.2 million), Russia (9.6 million) and Germany (7.4 million).
Every 10 seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes.
Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of global death by disease.
WHO's latest projections indicate that globally in 2005:
- approximately 1.6 billion adults (age 15+) were overweight;
- at least 400 million adults were obese.
WHO further projects that by 2015, approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese.
At least 20 million children under the age of 5 years are overweight globally in 2005.

In the US, diabetes currently effects 23.6 million people or 7.8% of the population.
In addition to the 24 million with diabetes, another 57 million people are estimated to have pre-diabetes, a condition that puts people at increased risk for diabetes.
25 percent of individuals with diabetes who do not know they have the disease.
About 33 percent of adult men and 35 percent of U.S. women were obese in 2005-2006 or more than 72 million people.