Sometimes numbers can help us understand more about a disease, the patterns it follows and what it means to each of us as individuals. An estimated 100 million to 120 million people worldwide have diabetes. In the United States, it is estimated that approximately 15.7 million Americans (nearly 6 percent of the population) have diabetes. Nearly 800,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. However, many cases of type 2 diabetes go undiagnosed. As many as 5.4 million people in this country have diabetes and don't know it. Diabetes is increasing in this country. In the past 40 years, the number of diagnosed cases has increased fivefold, from 1.6 million cases in 1958 to more than 8 million in
1998. The reasons for this are the aging population and the increasing rate of obesity in Americans. Type 1 diabetes accounts for only a small percentage of all cases of diabetes. There are approximately 800,000 people with type 1 diabetes in the United States and about
30,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Even though these numbers seem small compared with type 2, type 1 diabetes is one of the most common diseases of childhood, more common, for example, than cancer, cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease. Diabetes is relatively rare in babies and very young children; the likelihood of developing the disease increases with age until adolescence. Gestational diabetes affects between 3 percent and 5 percent of pregnant women in the United States. Last Updated: 6/23/2003
The Johns Hopkins University 1996-2003. All rights reserved. This information is not intended to provide advice on personal medical matters, nor is it intended to be a substitute for consultation.
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