Diabetes
Statistics > Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. Most of the food you eat is broken down into sugar (also called glucose) and released into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy.

Diabetes Fast Facts

  1. More than 34 million people in the United States have diabetes, and 1 in 5 of them don’t know they have it.
  2. More than 88 million US adults—over a third—have prediabetes, and more than 84% of them don’t know they have it.
  3. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States (and may be underreported).
  4. Type 2 diabetes accounts for approximately 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes; type 1 diabetes accounts for approximately 5-10%.
  5. In the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled as the American population has aged and become more overweight or obese.

Recent Statistics