According to the latest data from the International Diabetes Federation, India is home to 77 million diabetic adults, second-largest in the world.
At such alarming numbers, India lies just behind China which has 116 million diabetic adults.
This also means that every one in six people in the world has diabetes, and they are from India.
The worldwide prevalence of diabetes is estimated at 463 million adults in the 20-79 age group. Presently, the top three countries with the largest number of adults suffering from diabetes are China, India and the USA.
The report that was released by the federation yesterday, to mark the World Diabetes Day, also stated:
It is projected that the number of adults with diabetes in Pakistan will exceed that in the United States of America, and it will move to third place by 2045.
India is also the largest contributor to diabetes mortality with more than 1 million estimated deaths attributable to diabetes and related complications. Overall, people having type-2 diabetes increased significantly over the past years. The report stated some of the possible reasons behind this.
The rise in the number of people with type-2 diabetes was driven by a complex interplay of factors, including urbanisation, an ageing population, decreasing levels of physical activity and increasing levels of overweight people and obesity.
India has always been known as the diabetic capital of the world due to the alarming number of diabetes cases and the increased incidence of diabetes is putting people at the risk of serious and life-threatening complications, reducing their quality of life.