Diabetes Forecast To Affect 700 Million By 2045

The number of people between the ages of 20 and 79 with diabetes is expected to reach 700 million by 2045, according to the latest findings of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF)

ANKARA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Nov, 2019 ) :The number of people between the ages of 20 and 79 with diabetes is expected to reach 700 million by 2045, according to the latest findings of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

Diabetes, one of the fastest growing health challenges of the 21st century, respects neither socioeconomic status nor geographical and national boundaries, with the number of adults living with the disease having more than tripled over the past 20 years.

Marking World Diabetes Day, Anadolu Agency correspondents compiled data from the latest edition of the IDF's Diabetes Atlas, the authoritative resource on the global burden of diabetes, which showed that one in 11 adults aged 20-79 have diabetes.

It is estimated that 463 million adults, who represent 9.3% of the world's population in this age group, are currently living with the disease.

If current trends continue, by 2030, the IDF predicts a 10% increase in the number of people with this health challenge to 578 million.

Around two decades ago, in contrast, the global estimate of adults living with diabetes was 151 million, which by 2009 had rapidly grown by 88% to 285 million.

While it is estimated that a vast majority -- around 80% -- of people with diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries, the latest edition of the atlas indicated that two in three people with the disease live in urban areas.

The annual global health expenditure on diabetes keeps growing each year and is forecast to stand at $760 billion in 2019, equivalent to 10% of total global health expenditure.

The global expenditure on combating the disease is also projected to reach $825 billion by 2030 and $845 billion by 2045, the report showed.

Sadly, the health threat has claimed many lives. In 2019 so far, the number of deaths resulting from diabetes and its complications reached around 4.2 million, the report said.

China, India and the U.S. are the countries with the highest number of adults with diabetes aged 20-79 in 2019 and are forecast to remain so in 2030.

Meanwhile, the IDF reports foresee that the number of adults with diabetes in Pakistan will exceed that in the U.S. and will move to third place by 2045.

In Turkey, the IDF estimates around 6.6 million adults (aged 20-79 years) living with the disease in 2019.

The report also forecasts that Turkey will have 10.4 million people of the same age group with diabetes in 2045.

World Diabetes Day was created in 1991 by the IDF and the WHO as a response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes.

With the passage of a resolution, Nov. 14 became an official UN Day in 2006 and marked the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922.