SWITRZERLAND – India has emerged as the country with the highest number of diabetics globally, accounting for more than a quarter of the world’s 828 million cases in 2022, according to a recent report by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The findings, published in The Lancet, reveal that a staggering 62% of diabetics in India are not receiving treatment for their condition.
The NCD-RisC, a global collaboration of over 1,500 health experts, tracked diabetes prevalence and treatment trends across countries.
Their analysis shows that approximately 212 million people in India—about 23.7% of the population—were living with diabetes in 2022.
Alarmingly, nearly 133 million of these individuals were neither on medication nor receiving treatment, making India the leader in untreated diabetes cases globally.
In comparison, China, with a similarly large population, had around 148 million diabetics, but only 78 million of them were untreated, highlighting the unique challenges India faces in managing diabetes care.
The data, derived from over 1,100 population-based studies covering 141 million adults, marks the first global analysis of both the prevalence of diabetes and treatment access.
The report also underscores the alarming rise in diabetes prevalence in India over the past three decades. In 1990, 11.9% of women and 11.3% of men had diabetes. By 2022, these figures had climbed to 23.7% for women and 21.4% for men.
Despite this surge, treatment coverage has only marginally increased, with women’s treatment coverage rising from 21.6% to 27.8%, and men’s from 25.3% to 29.3%.
The report defines diabetes based on a fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level of 7 mmol/L or higher or an HbA1c of 6.5% or more, though it does not distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. However, most adult cases are believed to be type 2.
A global diabetes epidemic
Globally, diabetes cases have surged dramatically, with the total number of adults affected nearly quadrupling since 1990.
In 2022, over 800 million adults worldwide were living with diabetes, and approximately 445 million people aged 30 and older with diabetes went untreated, a three and a half-fold increase from 1990.
Majid Ezzati, a lead author from Imperial College London, emphasized that untreated diabetes poses significant long-term health risks, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where young people are especially vulnerable to complications such as heart disease, kidney damage, and premature death.
While Western Europe and East Africa reported the lowest rates of diabetes, countries in the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and parts of the Middle East and North Africa saw rates exceeding 25% of the population.
India, alongside nations like Pakistan and Malaysia, has become a focal point for addressing this growing health crisis.
Need for expanded diabetes care
The study’s findings highlight an urgent need for improved access to diabetes care, especially in regions where the disease is most prevalent.
The report also notes that three out of five adults (59%) aged 30 and older with diabetes globally, or 445 million people, were not receiving treatment in 2022, marking a significant rise from 1990.
In response to these alarming statistics, the researchers stressed the importance of expanding access to diabetes medications and care to prevent further complications and reduce the global burden of the disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) further emphasized the economic impact, estimating that global health expenditures on diabetes reached US $966 billion in 2021 and are projected to surpass US $1 trillion by 2045, with middle- and low-income countries bearing much of the burden.
Undiagnosed cases and treatment gaps
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that nearly 240 million people worldwide are living with undiagnosed diabetes, meaning that almost half of all adults with the condition are unaware they have it.
The vast majority of undiagnosed cases are found in low- and middle-income countries. This highlights the critical need for better screening, diagnosis, and treatment to address the growing diabetes epidemic.
As the world grapples with this escalating health crisis, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have included a pledge to ensure healthy lives for all people.
The SDGs aim to address non-communicable diseases like diabetes, which are responsible for one death every two seconds among adults aged 30-70.
