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Diabetes mellitus is a major problem that significantly affects the health of Australians.

This page presents the latest statistics on diabetes in Australia.

Diabetes: the facts

4% of Australians have diabetes

4%

of Australians have diabetes.That's around 898,000 people.

This rate has risen from 1.5% in 1989.

1 in 20 preganancies are affected by diabetes

1 in 20

pregnancies are affected by diabetes.

That was 44,000 women between 2005 and 2007.

12.8 per cent of Indigenous people have diabetes

3 to 1

The proportion of people with diabetes in the Indigenous population compared to the proportion of people with diabetes in the non-Indigenous population.

Over half of adults are overweight or obese

Over half

of adults are overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for diabetes.

3 in 5 people with diabetes also have cvd

3 in 5

people with diabetes also have cardiovascular disease.

Diabetes death rate per 100,000 population

7,500

people died from diabetes-related causes in 2007. The good news is the death rate from diabetes is not rising.

$990 million was spent on diabetes in 2004-05

$990 million

was spent on treating diabetes in 2004–05.

That's 1.9% of all health expenditure.