Diabetes Cases Quadruple Over 30 Years; WHO Urges Lifestyle Changes

The international health agency blamed the increase on lifestyle factors such as unhealthy food and physical inactivity.

registered nurse checks the breathing of a patient who suffers from severe diabetes, while performing a home health care visit in Thornton, Colorado, on Feb. 24, 2010. John Moore/Getty Images

Hundreds of millions of people globally have become diabetic over the past 30 years, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to call for “urgent action” to deal with the health crisis.

The number of adults living with diabetes worldwide has more than quadrupled since 1990, the WHO said in a Nov. 13 statement citing the results of a recent study it supported. An estimated 828 million adults were living with the condition worldwide in 2022, an increase of 630 million from 1990.