One in ten of the world’s population will have diabetes by 2035 according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). The latest edition IDF Diabetes Atlas, published today on World Diabetes Day, estimates that people living with diabetes will surge from 382 million to 592 million people by 2035, many in low and middle income countries and the majority under 60.
In some Pacific Island nations there has been an alarming surge in diabetes prevalence. One adult in three has the disease on the Pacific Island of Tokelau, providing a microcosm of how diabetes could play out in more populous nations within the coming decades. Sub-Saharan Africa will see a doubling in the number of people with diabetes by 2035, the largest surge of any region in the world.