Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body is unable to use the insulin it produces effectively. Insulin is a blood sugar regulating hormone. Hyperglycemia (too high concentration of glucose in the blood) is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes, which over time leads to serious damage to many parts of the body, especially nerves and blood vessels.

In 2014, 8.5% of adults aged 18 and over had diabetes. In 2019, diabetes was the direct cause of 1.5 million deaths. However, for the sake of precision, we must add deaths due to higher than normal blood sugar levels leading to cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and cases of tuberculosis. In 2012 (the latest year for which data is available), 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood sugar.

Between 2000 and 2016, premature mortality attributable to diabetes increased by 5%. In high-income countries, the premature mortality rate due to diabetes decreased between 2000 and 2010, but then increased over the period 2010-2016. In lower-middle-income countries, the rate of premature mortality from diabetes increased during both periods.

On the other hand, the probability of dying from one of the four main types of non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases or diabetes) between the ages of 30 and 70 fell by 18% globally between 2000 and 2016.