Diabetes Fact & Figures

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Diabetes is Australia's fastest growing chronic disease.
520,000 Australians are diagnosed with diabetes. For every one that knows it, another has it but doesn't know it - yet.
An average of 55,000 people are diagnosed every year. 1048 people are diagnosed every week, 150 people every day - that's one person every ten minutes.
Type 2 diabetes costs Australia $3 billion per year. 4% of people with diabetes account for 12% of health costs.
Average cost for person with Type 2 diabetes in expenditure and benefits is $5360 - if there are complications, this more than doubles.
At present there is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Researchers are hopeful that a cure for Type 1 diabetes will soon be discovered, although a cure for Type 2 diabetes is likely to take much longer.
People with diabetes are almost three times more likely to have high blood pressure, obesity or elevated blood fats eg: cholesterol.
Type 2 diabetes - usually found in middle age, is increasingly being diagnosed in children.
Complications of diabetes include eye disease, kidney disease, neuropathy, heart disease and stroke and erectile dysfunction in men.
Diabetes Australia supports Australian research through the Diabetes Australia Research Trust.