Individuals with diabetes in Italy 2010-2023

In 2023, almost 3.7 million Italians suffered from diabetes mellitus. This was a considerable increase compared to 2010, when 2.9 million individuals were affected by this disease. The number of cases fluctuated along a general upward trend over the 10 years under consideration, before peaking in 2022.  

Epidemiology of diabetes mellitus

The number of cases was directly related to the age of patients. As a matter of fact, diabetes was much more common among old people than among younger individuals . In 2021, approximately 1.1 million people aged 65 to 74 years and about 1.4 million aged 75 years and over were affected by diabetes mellitus in Italy. Diabetes was evenly spread between men and women. However, the number of female individuals who died because of diabetes mellitus was higher than the number of male ones. Indeed, during 2020, over 13.8 thousand women died from diabetes.

Drugs to treat diabetes

In Italy, the sales value of drugs used to treat diabetes increased  from 742.2 million euros in 2011 to 1.3 billion euros in 2022. Insulin – with a market share of 48.4 percent in 2016 – was the type of medication mainly used to treat diabetes.