Americans may have a hard time with their high-sugar diets, but data shows the US doesn’t even rank in the top 50 countries with the worst rates of diabetes.
And while Brits have a notorious fondness for those with a sweet tooth, the UK does not rank in the top 100 worst countries when it comes to disease rates.
The numbers, compiled by Our World In Data using data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), analyzed the percentage of diabetics between the ages of 20 and 79 in 211 countries.
Pakistan topped the list with about 31 percent of the population, followed by French Polynesia, an archipelago in the South Pacific (25.2 percent) and Kuwait (24.9 percent).
The organization Our World in Data ranked Pakistan as the country with the highest rates of diabetes in the world, based on figures from the International Diabetes Federation. Meanwhile, the US and UK were 59th and 136th, respectively
One factor behind the increase may be the fact that more people are moving to urban areas and adopting more sedentary lifestyles, increasing the risk of contracting the disease.
In addition, research has shown that Middle Eastern and South Asian countries have a higher genetic predisposition to the condition than Western countries.
The US, meanwhile, ranked 59th on the scale where one in ten people in the country is diabetic. In the UK, the diabetic rate was even lower at 136, at 6 per cent.
Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body converts food into energy. Normally, the body breaks down food into glucose, a type of sugar, and releases it into the bloodstream. This increases blood sugar, which prompts the pancreas to release insulin.
However, in diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin, resulting in too much blood sugar remaining in the bloodstream.
According to the IDF, 537 million adults worldwide had diabetes in 2021. That rate was a 16 percent (74 million) increase from 2019.
More than 90 percent of people with diabetes worldwide have type 2, which develops as a result of obesity, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and family history.
The IDF estimates that one in ten adults in the world is currently living with diabetes. The total is projected to rise to 643 million (11 percent) by 2030 and 783 million (12.2 percent) by 2045.
According to the World Health Organization, diabetes was the leading cause of death in 2019, claiming 1.5 million lives.
Diabetes rates are skyrocketing in Pakistan. According to the IDF, 33 million Pakistani adults were living with diabetes in 2021, a 70 percent increase since 2019. Now, 31 percent of adults between the ages of 20 and 79 have the condition.
According to a study in the Annals of Medicine and Surgery, the rate of diabetes in Pakistan has skyrocketed in recent years
IDF estimates that diabetes was responsible for more than 400,000 deaths in 2021. More than a quarter of adults with the condition in Pakistan go undiagnosed.
A 2022 study in the journal Annals of Medicine & Surgery attributed this increase to the scarcity of health care in the country, particularly in rural areas.
The researchers also said many people in Pakistan earn less than $3 a day, which is not enough to pay for insulin and other diabetes medications.
Research has also shown that just over a quarter of Pakistani adults are very physically active and that diabetes rates are higher in urban areas of Pakistan than in rural areas.
In the United States, which ranks 59th out of 211 countries, one in ten adults has diabetes, according to IDF data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 28.7 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes, while 8.5 million have not been diagnosed.
Additionally, 40 percent or 96 million people over the age of 18 have prediabetes, making them significantly more likely to develop the condition. Weight is one of the biggest factors in the rate of diabetes in the United States.
For example, a study published last year in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that obesity is associated with 30 to 53 percent of annual new diabetes cases in the United States.
The CDC estimates that four out of ten Americans are obese and counting. For example, between March 2020 and March 2021, the number increased by 3 percent. Dietary factors could play a role.
The American diet is rich in processed foods, which have been shown to have unhealthy disadvantages.
A 2022 study by Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute estimates that 73 percent of the United States’ food supply is highly processed.
And a study published in Frontiers in Nutrition found that more than 60 percent of calorie intake in the US comes from these foods.
A global comparative study published in Obesity Reviews showed that an increase in per capita sales of highly processed foods and beverages was associated with a higher body mass index (BMI).
Sugar and salt are other staple foods that can increase the risk of diabetes.
For example, a review published last month in the journal BMJ linked high consumption of added sugar to 45 negative health outcomes.
These include diabetes, gout, obesity, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, cancer, asthma, tooth decay, depression and early death.
Additionally, the CDC estimates that more than 90 percent of Americans consume too much salt — an average of 3,400 milligrams.
Dietary guidelines for Americans recommend adults limit sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day — the equivalent of about 1 teaspoon of table salt.
One of the biggest culprits is fast food – an American staple. About 70 percent of the sodium consumed comes from processed products.
Americans also tend to have a sedentary lifestyle. According to the American Heart Association, jobs that require long periods of sitting have increased 83 percent since 1950, and physically demanding jobs account for less than 20 percent of the workforce.
A 2015 review in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that prolonged sitting was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, even after adaptation to physical activity.
The Mayo Clinic has warned that sitting for long periods of time every day can cause many of the same problems and lead to the development of dangerous midsection visceral fat.
At 136th place out of 211, the UK ranks significantly worse than the USA.
Diabetes UK estimates that more than 4.3 million people in the country are living with diabetes and 2.4 million are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The organization also points out that in the UK, 850,000 people are living with the disease but don’t know it.
About 90 percent of these cases are type 2 diabetes.
Similar to the US, weight is one of the main risk factors for developing the disease.
The England 2021 Health Survey found that 64 per cent of people aged 45 to 74 in the country are overweight or obese. The same data showed that 28 percent of people were considered obese. That number increased from 15 percent in 1993.
Dietary factors such as salt and sugar consumption could also be responsible for these rates.
According to this chart from the House of Commons Library, using data from the England 2021 Health Survey, obesity rates are steadily increasing in England
The British Heart Foundation estimates that adults in England consume about 8,400 milligrams of salt per day, almost two and a half times as much as in the US. That’s 40 percent of the country’s national guideline of 6,000 milligrams.
According to Public Health England, around 85 per cent of this salt is already in store-bought food and is not added during cooking.
The UK rate is on par with Japan, where the obesity rate is just 6.6 percent.
The traditional Japanese diet has been shown to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and other chronic conditions such as heart disease. The diet is high in minimally processed, low-sugar foods like fish, seaweed, green tea, soy, fruits and vegetables.
In a six-week study of 33 men who followed a traditional Japanese diet, 91 percent had significantly fewer risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including obesity and high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol.
The country with the lowest rate of diabetes is the West African state of Benin, where only 1 percent of the population suffers from the disease.
This could be due to the country’s demographic development.
According to the World Food Program, Benin is largely made up of low-income and rural households. Almost 10 percent of households are food insecure and almost a third of children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition.
More than 70 percent of the population works in agriculture, making it less sedentary than adults in the US or UK.