A total of 1.3 billion people across the world are expected to be diagnosed with diabetes by 2050, which would more than double the current diagnoses of 529 million, according to a paper published in The Lancet.
Researchers found that roughly 96 percent of diabetics had Type 2, noting the increased prevalence is “primarily due to a rise in obesity.” The figures are based on analysis from more than 27,000 sources from 204 countries and territories.
The predicted increase would represent a jump in the global prevalence of the disease from six percent of the world’s population as of 2021 to ten percent in the next quarter of a century. The costs incurred are scarcely ever borne by the major, multinational corporations who promote unhealthy foods, diets, and even “body positivity” i.e. the glorification of morbid obesity.
More than 37 million Americans – slightly more than 10 percent – already have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In Britain, the prevalence of the disease has already increased from one in 100 to one in 12 people over the last 35 years.
“The new study presents a sobering fact that global figures for Type 2 diabetes will increase. These new figures surpass many of the predictions we had before,” argues Stephen Lawrence, a diabetes expert at Warwick University.