Individuals with diabetes in Italy 2023 by age group

People aged 75 years and older were the age group most affected by diabetes in Italy in 2023. According to the data, roughly 1.4 million individuals in this age group suffered from this disease, out of the 3.7 million Italians of all ages suffering from diabetes. The least affected age was 18-19, reporting just six thousand individuals diagnosed with diabetes.

Risk factors

Being overweight and being physically active less than three times a week are among the main risk factors for type 2 diabetes. As a matter of fact, around 12.5 percent of obese male individuals in Italy had been diagnosed with diabetes as of 2020. In the same year, the prevalence of diabetes among obese females in Italy reached 17.3 percent. When it comes to having a physically inactive lifestyle, the prevalence of diabetes among male individuals with a sedentary lifestyle was slightly higher than among females, with 11.3 percent of sedentary males diagnosed with diabetes.

Cost of antidiabetics

Between 2014 and 2022, the cost of antidiabetic drugs increased in Italy, from 0.59 euros per DDD (daily defined dose) in 2014, to 0.94 euros per DDD in 2022. Semaglutide, an antidiabetic used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, is by far the drug with the highest cost compared to other antidiabetics, with an average cost of about 16 euros per DDD. On the other hand, metformin, the most used antidiabetic drug in Italy, is also the cheapest, with an average price of 0.19 euros per DDD.