Roughly 589 million adults worldwide are living with diabetes, and type 2 accounts for about 90 to 95 percent of all cases. That puts the global count of people with type 2 diabetes somewhere around 530 to 560 million. In the United States alone, 40.1 million people have diabetes, about 1 in every 8 adults, with the vast majority having type 2.
Global Numbers at a Glance
The 2024 edition of the IDF Diabetes Atlas estimates that 11.1% of the world’s adult population (ages 20 to 79) now has diabetes, diagnosed or not. That 589 million figure has been climbing steadily for decades, and projections suggest it will reach 783 million by 2045, a jump to 12.2% of all adults. The growth is driven by rising obesity rates, aging populations, and the spread of sedentary lifestyles in countries that are rapidly urbanizing.
Diabetes directly caused 1.6 million deaths in 2021, according to the World Health Organization. Nearly half of those deaths occurred in people younger than 70. On top of that, diabetes contributed to roughly 530,000 kidney disease deaths and about 11% of all cardiovascular deaths globally.
How Many Americans Have Type 2 Diabetes
The CDC reports that 40.1 million Americans have diabetes. Since type 2 makes up approximately 90 to 95% of diagnosed cases, that translates to somewhere between 36 and 38 million people with type 2 specifically. But those numbers only tell part of the story.
The total prevalence of diabetes among U.S. adults, including people who don’t know they have it, is 15.8%. Diagnosed diabetes accounts for 11.3%, while undiagnosed diabetes adds another 4.5%. That means slightly more than one in four American adults with diabetes hasn’t been told they have it. These are people whose blood sugar is in the diabetic range but who have never received a formal diagnosis.
Beyond diabetes itself, an enormous number of Americans are on the threshold. About 115.2 million U.S. adults have prediabetes, a condition where blood sugar is elevated but not yet high enough to qualify as diabetes. Prediabetes becomes more common with age: it affects about 36% of adults aged 18 to 44, nearly 49% of those 45 to 64, and over 52% of adults 65 and older.
Who Is Most Affected in the U.S.
Type 2 diabetes does not affect all populations equally. CDC data from 2021 to 2023 shows sharp differences by race and ethnicity. American Indian and Alaska Native adults have the highest diagnosed prevalence at 15.7%. Black adults follow at 12.2%, and Hispanic adults at 11.8%. Non-Hispanic Asian adults have a diagnosed rate of 9.7%, and non-Hispanic white adults have the lowest rate at 7.1%.
Those diagnosed numbers, though, understate the true gap. When you factor in undiagnosed cases, the disparities widen considerably. The total diabetes prevalence (diagnosed plus undiagnosed) among Black adults is 20.7%, meaning roughly one in five has the condition. For Hispanic adults, total prevalence is 17.1%. For non-Hispanic Asian adults it’s 14.5%, and for non-Hispanic white adults it’s 11.2%.
Within broader racial categories, there’s also significant variation. Among Asian Americans, Filipino adults have a prevalence of 12.2% and Asian Indian adults 10.8%, while Korean and Japanese Americans fall closer to 6 to 7%. Among Hispanic populations, Puerto Rican adults have the highest rate at 13.3%, while South American adults have the lowest at 5.0%. These differences reflect a complex mix of genetic susceptibility, diet, access to healthcare, income, and environmental factors.
Why So Many Cases Go Undiagnosed
Type 2 diabetes can develop slowly over years without obvious symptoms. Early on, blood sugar levels may be high enough to cause gradual damage to blood vessels, nerves, and organs, but not high enough to produce the classic warning signs like excessive thirst, frequent urination, or blurred vision. Many people are diagnosed only when they develop a complication or happen to get a blood test for another reason.
In the U.S., the undiagnosed rate is higher in men (4.9%) than in women (3.5%) after adjusting for age. This likely reflects differences in how often men visit a doctor for routine screenings. Globally, the problem is far worse in low- and middle-income countries where access to basic blood sugar testing is limited, and where diabetes often goes undetected until it causes serious complications like vision loss, kidney failure, or foot ulcers requiring amputation.
Why the Numbers Keep Rising
Several forces are pushing type 2 diabetes prevalence higher. The most significant is the global rise in obesity: excess body fat, particularly around the abdomen, makes the body increasingly resistant to insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. Diets high in processed food and sugary drinks have become the norm in many countries, and physical activity has declined as more people work desk jobs and rely on cars.
Population aging also plays a major role. The risk of type 2 diabetes increases significantly after age 45 and continues climbing. As life expectancy rises in most countries, a larger share of the population falls into higher-risk age brackets. Meanwhile, better survival rates for people already living with diabetes mean they remain in the prevalence count longer, further inflating the total.
Perhaps the most concerning trend is the growing number of younger adults and even adolescents developing type 2 diabetes. A condition once called “adult-onset diabetes” is now increasingly diagnosed in people in their 20s and 30s, largely driven by rising childhood obesity rates. Earlier onset means more years of disease, more cumulative damage, and higher lifetime healthcare costs.
The Prediabetes Pipeline
The 115 million Americans with prediabetes represent a massive pool of people at risk for progressing to full type 2 diabetes. Without intervention, roughly 15 to 30% of people with prediabetes develop type 2 within five years. The good news is that prediabetes is reversible. Modest weight loss of 5 to 7% of body weight, combined with regular physical activity, can cut the risk of progressing to diabetes by more than half.
Most people with prediabetes don’t know they have it. There are no clear symptoms, and many doctors don’t test for it unless a patient has obvious risk factors. That means millions of people are quietly moving toward a diabetes diagnosis without realizing they still have time to change course.