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Pakistan Is the World’s Most Diabetic Country (GCC in the Top 20)

Despite advancements in healthcare lengthening life expectancy across the world, there are still many diseases that are hard to beat. One of these growing and costly diseases is diabetes, but each country is being hit differently.

As Visual Capitalist Freny Fernandes details below, one of the leading causes of death and disability globally, over half a billion people are living with diabetes today. The World Bank’s IDF Diabetes Atlas reveals that diabetes was responsible for 6.7 million deaths in 2021 alone.

In this graphic, Alberto Rojo Moro uses this World Bank Atlas to map diabetes rates by country, highlighting the countries with the highest rates of the disease.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes (also known as diabetes Mellitus) is a long-lasting condition that affects how the body turns food into energy.

Normally, our bodies break down the food we consume into glucose (a sugar) and release it into our blood. When our level of blood sugar rises, insulin produced by our pancreas signals the body to use excess glucose as energy or store it for later consumption.

Diabetes restricts the pancreas from producing this life-saving insulin properly, thus causing high blood sugar levels. These high glucose levels can eventually impact the heart, kidneys, and vision. There are two main types of diabetes:

  • Type 1 Diabetes: The immune system attacks and destroys the cells in your pancreas that make insulin. Causes are believed to be genetic and environmental.
  • Type 2 Diabetes: The body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. It is caused by a mix of lifestyle factors (including obesity, physical inactivity, poor diet, and smoking) and genetics.

Type 2 diabetes is by far the most common form of the disease, making up between 90-95% of global cases.

Diabetes Rates by Country

With close to 33 million (31%) of its adult population suffering from diabetes, Pakistan was the country with the highest prevalence of diabetes.

RankCountry% of Diabetic Population Aged 20-79
1🇵🇰 Pakistan30.8
2🇵🇫 French Polynesia25.2
3🇰🇼 Kuwait24.9
4🇳🇷 Nauru23.4
5🇳🇨 New Caledonia23.4
6🇲🇭 Marshall Islands23.0
7🇲🇺 Mauritius22.6
8🇰🇮 Kiribati22.1
9🇪🇬 Egypt20.9
10🇦🇸 American Samoa20.3
11🇹🇻 Tuvalu20.3
12🇸🇧 Solomon Islands19.8
13🇶🇦 Qatar19.5
14🇬🇺 Guam19.1
15🇲🇾 Malaysia19.0
16🇸🇩 Sudan18.9
17🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia18.7
18🇫🇯 Fiji17.7
19🇵🇼 Palau17.0
20🇲🇽 Mexico16.9

The situation in Pakistan is currently not expected to improve in the near future. By 2045, the country is estimated to have 62 million people suffering from diabetes due to numerous reasons including malnutrition.

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Zero Hedge

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