Number of U.S. Americans with diabetes 1980-2022

It was estimated that as of 2022 around 24.4 million people in the United States had been diagnosed with diabetes. The number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S. has increased in recent years and the disease is now a major health issue. Diabetes is now the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for three percent of all deaths.

What is prediabetes?

A person is considered to have prediabetes if their blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. As of 2021, it was estimated that around 53 million men and 44 million women in the United States had prediabetes. However, according to the CDC, around 80 percent of these people do not know they have this condition. Not only does prediabetes increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but also increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. The states with the highest share of adults who had ever been told they have prediabetes are Hawaii, California, and Alaska.

The prevalence of diabetes in the United States

As of 2022, around 8.4 percent of adults in the United States had been diagnosed with diabetes, an increase from six percent in the year 2000. Diabetes is much more common among older adults, with almost a quarter of those aged 65 years and older diagnosed with diabetes, compared to just three percent of those aged 18 to 44 years. The states with the highest prevalence of diabetes among adults are Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia, while Colorado and Alaska report the lowest rates. In Alabama, around 17 percent of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes.