Let’s take a look at some European juvenile diabetes statistics first. In Europe, best-guess estimates are that new cases of juvenile diabetes are likely to double over the next decade or so. And WebMD sources expect the United States will see this same trend very shortly. Some juvenile diabetes statistics from Europe of particular interest are:

  • New cases of juvenile diabetes are increasing by 3.9% a year. This is not a good trend, and the most new cases are being diagnosed in the younger children
  • The increase is in all ages between birth and 14 years old. But the greatest increase was in the younger age group, where children under the age of 5 are showing an increase of 5.4%
  • Using math on current juvenile diabetes statistics data will show an increase of 70% by the turn of the next decade (somewhere in 2020 or 2021)
  • In the same decade, the number of new diagnoses in children 5 years old or younger will double.

 

The most disturbing thing about the statistics on juvenile diabetes from Europe show us is the exponential growth of new cases in ever younger children. It used to be that children were usually diagnosed with diabetes in their early teens. Obviously, that age is getting younger as the years pass.

 

Juvenile Diabetes Statistics in the United States

 

A 2007 study funded by the Center for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health found of the following juvenile diabetes statistics specific to the U.S.

  • Estimates are that 23.6 million people in the United States have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. And of these over 23 million diabetics, 5.7 of them don’t know they have it. In other words, they are undiagnosed.
  • Somewhere between 5% and 10% of the diabetes cases in the U.S. are type 1, or juvenile diabetes. If you calculate that out, it means at least 1.1 million people in the U.S. have type 1 diabetes. At the high end, it could be as high as 23.5 million.
  • About .2% of all people under age 20 have type 1 diabetes.
  • Diabetes of all types is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States.

 

Global Juvenile Diabetes Statistics

 

Worldwide, approximately 480,000 children have juvenile diabetes, with somewhere around 76,000 new cases being diagnosed every year. The rate of increase globally is 3%, with the greatest increase in children under 5 years old.

The reasons aren’t clear why the trends are going the wrong way in these juvenile diabetes statistics, but you can’t help but be somewhat alarmed. And it is well-known that statistics in under-developed countries are not the most accurately reported or compiled. The rates could be even higher.