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Diabetes by the Numbers: What the Latest IDF Atlas Shows The International Diab…
Diabetes by the Numbers: What the Latest IDF Atlas Shows
The International Diabetes Federation's current Diabetes Atlas puts the global burden in sharper focus:
589 million adults (20-79 years) are living with diabetes worldwide, about 1 in 9 adults.
43% of adults with diabetes, roughly 252 million people, are undiagnosed.
Diabetes was linked to 3.4 million deaths in 2024, and the global health expenditure attributable to it reached an estimated USD 1.015 trillion.
Without a change in trajectory, the Atlas projects 853 million adults living with diabetes by 2050.
Why this matters in practice: the undiagnosed proportion is the number most within clinicians' control. Opportunistic screening, in anyone with risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, a family history or prior gestational diabetes, remains one of the simplest ways to close that 43% gap, well before complications prompt a diagnosis.
Source: IDF Diabetes Atlas.