Diabetes in the United States has increased roughly 21% over the last decade. In 2011, about 9.5% of American adults had diabetes; by 2023, that figure reached 11.5%. Today, 40.1 million Americans are living with the disease, and another 115 million have prediabetes. Globally, the picture is similar: 589 million adults worldwide now have diabetes, affecting more than 11% of the adult population.
U.S. Adult Diabetes by the Numbers
The most detailed U.S. tracking comes from national health surveys that test participants’ blood sugar, catching both diagnosed and undiagnosed cases. When you include people who have diabetes but don’t know it yet, the total prevalence among American adults is 15.8%. That breaks down to 11.3% who have been diagnosed and another 4.5% who are undiagnosed.
Looking at the longer arc, the age-adjusted prevalence of total diabetes climbed from 9.7% in 1999-2000 to 14.3% by 2021-2023. Most of that growth happened in the first 15 or so years of that window. Between the 2017-2020 survey period and the 2021-2023 period, the numbers actually plateaued: total diabetes held roughly steady at around 14-15%, and undiagnosed diabetes stayed flat at 4.2%. That plateau doesn’t mean the problem is solved. It means the U.S. is holding at a historically high level, with roughly one in six adults affected.
Obesity and Diabetes Rose in Lockstep
The 21% rise in diabetes between 2011 and 2023 closely mirrors the trajectory of obesity, which increased 23% over the same period, from 27.8% to 34.3% of adults. That parallel isn’t a coincidence. Excess body fat, particularly around the midsection, makes cells less responsive to insulin, forcing the pancreas to work harder until it can no longer keep up. As obesity rates climbed, diabetes followed on a nearly identical curve.
The Prediabetes Pipeline
Perhaps the most striking shift over the past two decades is the explosion in prediabetes. By the American Diabetes Association’s criteria, prediabetes prevalence more than doubled from about 15.6% in 1999-2002 to 37.3% in 2015-2018. Today, roughly one in three American adults has blood sugar levels high enough to qualify as prediabetes, putting them at elevated risk of developing full diabetes within five to ten years if nothing changes.
The current CDC estimate is even starker: more than two in five American adults, about 115.2 million people, have prediabetes. Many of them don’t know it, since the condition produces no obvious symptoms. Without weight loss, dietary changes, or increased physical activity, a significant portion of this group will progress to type 2 diabetes in the coming years.
Diabetes Is Rising Fastest in Young People
One of the more alarming trends involves children and teenagers. Between 2002 and 2018, new type 2 diabetes diagnoses among young people doubled, climbing from 9 per 100,000 to 18 per 100,000 per year. That works out to about a 5% annual increase in new cases. Type 1 diabetes also rose in this age group, though more modestly, from 20 to 22 new cases per 100,000 per year, a roughly 2% annual increase.
Projections suggest the trend could accelerate dramatically. If the current rate of new diagnoses continues, type 2 diabetes cases among young people could increase by about 700% by 2060. Even if new diagnoses hold steady at today’s rate, the number of young people with type 2 diabetes would still rise roughly 70%, driven by population growth alone. Early-onset type 2 diabetes tends to progress more aggressively than the adult-onset version, leading to complications at younger ages.
The Global Picture
The rise isn’t limited to the United States. According to the International Diabetes Federation’s latest estimates, 11.1% of the global adult population, about 589 million people, had diabetes in 2024. That number is projected to reach 853 million by 2050. Middle-income countries carry the heaviest burden, with a prevalence of about 11.5%, followed by high-income countries at 10.2% and low-income countries at 7.5%. Rapid urbanization, shifts toward processed diets, and declining physical activity are driving growth across virtually every region.
The Economic Cost Has Surged
The financial toll has kept pace with the medical one. National healthcare costs directly attributable to diabetes rose by $80 billion over the past decade, from $227 billion in 2012 to $307 billion in 2022. When you add in lost productivity from disability, missed work, and premature death, the total economic cost reaches $412.9 billion annually. Medical costs for people living with diabetes increased 35% over that ten-year span, outpacing general healthcare inflation.
That $106.3 billion in lost productivity alone accounts for more than a quarter of the total cost. Diabetes doesn’t just strain the healthcare system. It reduces earning capacity, shortens careers, and pulls resources from families and employers alike.
Undiagnosed Diabetes Remains Stubbornly Common
Despite improvements in screening, about 4.5% of U.S. adults have diabetes and don’t know it. That percentage has barely moved over the last several years, holding at roughly 4.2% since the 2017-2020 survey cycle. In real numbers, that’s millions of people walking around with elevated blood sugar causing silent damage to blood vessels, kidneys, nerves, and eyes.
The gap between total and diagnosed diabetes matters because the earliest years of the disease, when blood sugar is elevated but symptoms haven’t appeared, are often the best window for intervention. Weight loss, dietary changes, and medication can slow or prevent complications if the condition is caught early. The fact that nearly one in three people with diabetes remains unaware of it means a large share of the population is missing that window entirely.