Around one in 11 adults in Wales could be living with diabetes by 2035 if current trends continue, according to a new analysis by Public Health Wales on World Diabetes Day.

This would be an additional 48,000 people with the disease, and a 22 per cent increase compared with 2021/22.

An increase like this would put significant additional pressure on health services.  Diabetes related hospital spells cost the Welsh NHS an average of £4,518 per spell in 2021/22, not including spells requiring amputations.  £105 million was spent on drugs to manage diabetes in Wales in 2022/23.

More than 200,000 people in Wales are already living with diabetes, around eight per cent of adults.  Around 90 per cent of these cases have type 2 diabetes, over half of which could be prevented or delayed with behaviour changes.

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