Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in working-age Australians. Picture: Shutterstock
Here's a snapshot of diabetes in Australia.
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- More than 1.4 million Australians have some form of diabetes
- It's estimated that up to a further 500,000 Australians have silent, undiagnosed type 2 diabetes
- Pre-diabetes affects almost 1 in 6 Australians aged over 25 (more than 2 million individuals)
- More than 120,000 people were diagnosed with diabetes in the 12 months to June 2021
- 331 Australians develop diabetes every day. That's one person every four and a half minutes
- Gestational diabetes is rising, affecting about 1 in 7 pregnant women
- Type 2 diabetes is more common than type 1 diabetes, accounting for 87 per cent of all diagnoses in 2020-21
- Diabetes is the seventh most common cause of death in Australia
- It's the leading cause of blindness in working-age Australians
- It results in more than 4400 amputations every year (Amputations are 15 times more common in people with diabetes)
- People with diabetes are up to four times more likely to develop heart disease, which is the No. 1 cause of death for people with type 2 diabetes (contributing to almost two-thirds of all deaths in people with diabetes)
- Diabetes costs the Australian economy at least $15 billion a year
- Research shows people with type 2 can achieve remission through healthy eating, regular exercise and weight loss.
Sources: Diabetes Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
