Diabetes ‘on a relentless march’ as it affects one in 11 adults across the world

The number of adults with diabetes has quadrupled worldwide in under four decades to 422 million, health experts said on Wednesday. The condition was on a relentless march and was "a defining issue for global public health", according to the World Health Organization. It now affects one in 11 adults worldwide and is fast becoming a major problem in poorer countries. The surge was down to changes “in the way people eat, move and live,” said WHO as it called for action to tackle the crisis.

Diabetes is a silent disease, but it is on an unrelenting march that we need to stop.

Dr Etienne Krug, WHO expert on diabetes

The disease directly caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012 – the latest available global figures – but elevated blood glucose levels linked to diabetes were responsible for an additional 2.2 million deaths that year, the report said. About 8.5% of the world’s adults now have diabetes, compared to 4.7% in 1980. The WHO’s Western Pacific region, which includes China and Japan, was the worst affected, with 131 million estimated cases in 2014. Europe and the Americas were third and fourth worst regions on the list, with 64 million and 62 million cases respectively.

Physical inactivity is alarmingly common among adolescents

World Health Organization report

diabetes