--- title: 29.1 Million Americans Now Suffer From Diabetes description: About 29.1 million Americans -- nearly 10% of the U.S. population -- now suffer from diabetes, according to a new report. canonical: https://time.com/2853077/americans-diabetes/ author: Hannah Goldberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-10T17:17:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:19:52.531Z article:section: Health og:title: Diabetes on the Rise in the United States og:description: About 29.1 million Americans -- nearly 10% of the U.S. population -- now suffer from diabetes, according to a new report. og:url: https://time.com/2853077/americans-diabetes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Diabetes on the Rise in the United States twitter:description: About 29.1 million Americans -- nearly 10% of the U.S. population -- now suffer from diabetes, according to a new report. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 29.1 Million Americans Now Have Diabetes by [Hannah Goldberg](https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Jun 10, 2014 5:17 PM UTC by [Hannah Goldberg](https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Jun 10, 2014 5:17 PM UTC About 29.1 million Americans—nearly 10% of the U.S. population—now has type 2 diabetes, according to a [new report](http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf). Of those Americans with the illness, 27.8% of them are undiagnosed, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s [2014 National Diabetes Statistics Report](http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf) released Tuesday. The report uses data collected between 2009-2012, as well as national surveys. The CDC estimates that the direct and indirect costs of the disease have reached $245 billion, with direct medical costs making up 72% of that amount. People with type 2 diabetes incur medical costs on average 2.3 times higher than people without the disease, the CDC found. Type 2 diabetes is caused by various factors that result in a heightened amount of blood sugar in the body. The disease is divided into two types; type 1 diabetics do not produce enough insulin, a hormone integral to metabolizing blood sugars, while in type 2, the body cannot use the insulin it makes. Diabetes can in the most severe cases result in serious complications including heart and kidney disease. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2853077/americans-diabetes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2853077/americans-diabetes/"},"headline":"29.1 Million Americans Now Have Diabetes","datePublished":"2014-06-10T17:17:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:19:52.531Z","description":"The CDC reports an increasing number of Americans are diabetic","url":"https://time.com/2853077/americans-diabetes/","keywords":["Research","Science topic","Obesity","health","diabetes"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hannah Goldberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2853077/americans-diabetes/","name":"29.1 Million Americans Now Have Diabetes"}}]}] ```