More than 800 million people have diabetes globally. How does Europe compare?

The number of people living with diabetes globally has reached over 800 million, a drastic increase in the past 30 years, according to a new analysis.

Published in The Lancet, the study was conducted by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration and the World Health Organization (WHO).

It examined trends in diabetes prevalence and treatment worldwide from 1990 to 2022 and used data from more than 140 million adults across 200 countries and territories.

The findings show the rate of people with diabetes has doubled over the past three decades, rising from approximately seven per cent or 198 million people, in 1990, to about 14 per cent or 828 million people in 2022.

More than half of those with diabetes are not receiving treatment for the condition, the study found, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Diabetes is a chronic illness that caused over two million deaths in 2021. It can lead to severe complications such as blindness, kidney failure, and heart disease.

There are two main types, Type 1, which is an autoimmune disease, and Type 2, which affects the body’s insulin use and accounts for most cases.

Unlike Type 1, Type 2 can often be prevented through lifestyle changes like maintaining a healthy diet and normal body weight, physical activity, and avoiding tobacco use, according to the WHO.

Global variation in rates and treatment of diabetes

The new study found that the number of people with diabetes is almost four times what it was in 1990, with large differences across countries.

More than half of diabetes cases in the world were in four countries: India (212 million), China (148 million), the United States (42 million), and Pakistan (36 million). The next countries with the highest number of diabetes cases were Indonesia with 25 million and Brazil with 22 million.

Pacific island nations and those located in the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Pakistan and Malaysia, also had the highest diabetes rates.

Still, according to the study, some higher-income countries like in Europe, saw no change or even a small decrease in diabetes rates.

Rates in western Europe, for instance, were some of the lowest, with countries like France, Denmark, and Spain, reporting diabetes rates as low as two and four per cent for those over 18 for both sexes.

“Our study highlights widening global inequalities in diabetes, with treatment rates stagnating in many low- and middle-income countries where numbers of adults with diabetes are drastically increasing,” Majid Ezzati, senior author of the study from Imperial College London, said in a statement.

He added that it is “especially concerning” for the young people who could be at risk of life-long complications.

The study found that obesity and poor diets were the main drivers of the rise in Type 2 diabetes rates.

Treatment was also a major issue, with nearly 60 per cent of those aged 30 and older with diabetes not receiving treatment as of 2022, particularly in India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the US.

How does Europe compare in diabetes treatment?

Belgium recorded the highest rates of treatment, with 86 per cent of women and 77 per cent of men with diabetes receiving it.

After Belgium, Poland, Finland, and Portugal had the highest rates of treatment with more than 70 per cent of people in these countries receiving treatment.

Fewer than half of people with diabetes were receiving treatment in France, Latvia, and Lithuania, according to the study.

“We have seen an alarming rise in diabetes over the past three decades, which reflects the increase in obesity, compounded by the impacts of the marketing of unhealthy food, a lack of physical activity and economic hardship," WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.

“To bring the global diabetes epidemic under control, countries must urgently take action. This starts with enacting policies that support healthy diets and physical activity, and, most importantly, health systems that provide prevention, early detection and treatment”.