There has been a 40% rise in diagnoses of type 2 diabetes among younger people since 2016-17, a charity has warned.
Stark new figures from Diabetes UK have concluded that there are now almost 168,000 people under the age of 40 in the UK who are living with type 2 diabetes, an increase of more than 47,000 since 2016-17.
While the condition has historically been associated with older people, cases among under-40s have been on the rise in recent years and are now increasing at a faster rate than among the over-40s, it also warned.
The impact of this is being felt disproportionately by those from the most deprived areas and people from Black and South Asian backgrounds, it added.
Children in the most deprived areas are more than five times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those in the least deprived areas, Diabetes UK said.
In all, nearly 4.4 million people in the UK were living with a diagnosis of diabetes as of 2022-23. Approximately 8% of these cases were type 1 diabetes, and 90% were type 2. The other types of diabetes make up the remaining 2%
Moreover, there are more than 1.2 million people who may be living with type 2 diabetes and have not yet been diagnosed, it also warned. This meant in total more than 5.6 million people were now living with diabetes in the UK.
Diabetes UK chief executive Colette Marshall said: “Diagnoses of type 2 diabetes in people under 40 are rising to alarming levels. It’s a damning indictment of the barriers that many of us face to living a healthy life, where good food is affordable, and exercise isn’t a luxury.
“There is a generational opportunity to stop this crisis in its tracks and we are calling on all political parties to seize it. We need bold action to reverse the rising trend in type 2 diabetes, overturn our broken food environment and give every child and young person the best possible chance to grow up in good health,” she added.
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