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Statistics About Diabetes
Overall numbers
- Prevalence: In 2018, 34.2 million Americans, or 10.5% of the population, had diabetes.
- Nearly 1.6 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, including about 187,000 children and adolescents
- Undiagnosed: Of the 34.2 million adults with diabetes, 26.8 million were diagnosed, and 7.3 million were undiagnosed.
- Prevalence in seniors: The percentage of Americans age 65 and older remains high, at 26.8%, or 14.3 million seniors (diagnosed and undiagnosed).
- New cases: 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year.
- Prediabetes: In 2015, 88 million Americans age 18 and older had prediabetes.
Diabetes in youth
- About 210,000 Americans under age 20 are estimated to have diagnosed diabetes, approximately 0.25% of that population.
- In 2014—2015, the annual incidence of diagnosed diabetes in youth was estimated at 18,200 with type 1 diabetes, 5,800 with type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes by race/ethnicity
The rates of diagnosed diabetes in adults by race/ethnic background are:
- 7.5% of non-Hispanic whites
- 9.2% of Asian Americans
- 12.5% of Hispanics
- 11.7% of non-Hispanic blacks
- 14.7% of American Indians/Alaskan Natives
The breakdown among Asian Americans:
- 5.6% of Chinese
- 10.4% of Filipinos
- 12.6% of Asian Indians
- 9.9% of other Asian Americans
The breakdown among Hispanic adults:
- 8.3% of Central and South Americans
- 6.5% of Cubans
- 14.4% of Mexican Americans
- 12.4% of Puerto Ricans
Deaths
Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2017 based on the 83,564 death certificates in which diabetes was listed as the underlying cause of death. In 2017, diabetes was mentioned as a cause of death in a total of 270,702 certificates.
Diabetes may be underreported as a cause of death. Studies have found that only about 35% to 40% of people with diabetes who died had diabetes listed anywhere on the death certificate and about 10% to 15% had it listed as the underlying cause of death.
Cost of diabetes
Updated March 22, 2018
$327 billion: Total cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2017
$237 billion was for direct medical costs
$90 billion was in reduced productivity
After adjusting for population age and sex differences, average medical expenditures among people with diagnosed diabetes were 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.
Read more about the results of our study "Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2017."
For additional information
For additional information, read the CDC National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2020.