Facts and Figures

• Type 1 diabetes represents 10-15% of all cases of diabetes, is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases in developed nations, and is not caused by lifestyle factors.

• Type 2 diabetes represents 85-90% of all cases of diabetes. Risk factors include family history, ethnic background and being overweight; lifestyle factors such as unhealthy eating and lack of physical activity can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes.

• Pre-diabetes is a condition when blood glucose levels are higher then normal but not yet high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Left untreated it may develop into type 2 diabetes within 5-10 years.

• Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that occurs in pregnancy and mostly disappears after the birth.

• Diabetes is the sixth highest cause of death by disease in Australia.

• People with diabetes are almost 3 times more likely to have high blood pressure, obesity or elevated blood fats, e.g. cholesterol, triglycerides. They are 2-3 times more likely to have cardiovascular disease, e.g. heart disease and stroke.

• 1 in 4 Australian adults has either diabetes or impaired glucose metabolism.

• Australians with diabetes in 1999-2000: 19% were hospitalised with coronary heart disease; 15.4% had retinopathy; 90% undergoing a lower limb amputation had a history of ulceration; 3,404 had amputations; 12% over the age of 25 had a heart attack; 9% of these had a stroke; 22.6% died from kidney disease.

• Diabetes is Australia’s fastest growing chronic disease. 1 person is diagnosed every 7 minutes.

• More than 740,000 Australians are officially diagnosed with diabetes. For every one diagnosed, another is undiagnosed = 1.4 million.

• By 2010, the number of Australians with diabetes is expected to total 2 million.

• The total number of Australians with diabetes and pre-diabetes is 3.2 million.

• At least 171 million people worldwide have diabetes. This number is expected to more than double by 2030.

• In 2000, 3.2 million people worldwide died from complications associated with diabetes. (p.4)
n Globally, 1 in 20 deaths is attributable to diabetes. This equates to 8,700 deaths every day, or 6 deaths every minute.

• In developing countries the number of people with diabetes will increase by 150% in the next 25 years. The causes of this dramatic increase are population ageing and growth, and increasing trends towards unhealthy western-style diet, obesity, and sedentary lifestyle.

• In developed countries most people with diabetes are above the age of retirement, however in developing countries, those most frequently affected are aged between 35 and 64.

• In countries with a high prevalence of diabetes (e.g. in the Pacific and Middle East) as many as 1 in 4 deaths in adults aged between 35 and 64 years is due to diabetes.

• Diabetes has become one of the major causes of premature illness and death in most countries, mainly through the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which is responsible for between 50-80% of deaths in people with diabetes.

• The burden of premature death from diabetes is similar to that of HIV/AIDS, yet the problem is largely unrecognised.

• The diabetes epidemic costs Australian taxpayers $3 billion a year; one-quarter of hospital beds are filled by patients with the disease.

• 100,000 Australians each year develop diabetes, which in turn doubles their chance of dying during the next 5 years.

• 200,000 Australians a year move from overweight to obese.

• More than two-thirds of people who die of heart disease or stroke have evidence of diabetes.

• Diabetes increases the risk of dying to the same degree as smoking.

• Every day in Australia approximately 275 adults develop diabetes.

• The average increase in waist circumference in Australians over 5 years was 2.1cm.

• Obese people are 4 times more likely to develop diabetes than those with normal weights.

• In 2004-05, 3.6% of the Australian population, approximately 700,000 persons, reported that they had diabetes.

• In 2004-05, 13% of people with long-term diabetes reported having type 1, 83% reported having type 2 and 4% reported diabetes, but did not know which type.

• The number of adults with diabetes has more than doubled since 1981. Type 2 diabetes is more common among those aged 45 years and over. However, it is increasingly developing at younger ages, and in recent years cases have been seen in children and young people.

• The prevalence of diabetes reported by Australians rose from 2.4% in 1995, to 3.0% in 2001, and 3.5% in 2004-05, after adjusting for age differences.

• Type 2 diabetes is the main contributor to diabetes incidence (or the number of new cases of diabetes over time). However, type 1 diabetes incidence is also increasing, according to recent state-based studies.

• After adjusting for age differences between the two populations, Indigenous Australians were more than three times as likely as non-Indigenous Australians to report some form of diabetes.