NEW DELHI, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- India is projected to have 50.8 million diabetics by next year, making it the diabetics' capital of the world, the International Diabetes Federation warns.
Worse still, the agency says, that number is expected to jump to 87 million or 8.4 percent of country's adult population by 2030, the Times of India reported Wednesday. IDF is headquartered in Brussels.
Currently, seven percent of Indian adults suffer from the metabolic disease, blamed largely on sedentary lifestyle, faulty diet and high stress.
China, the second country on the list, currently is reported to have 43.2 million diabetics. That number is expected to reach 62.6 million by 2030, says the IDF.
The agency predicts that in India, the disease will kill more than 1 million people by next year. Of that 58 percent will be women.
The agency said globally, the number of diabetics has risen from 30 million in 1985 to 150 million in 2000 to a projected figure of 285 million next year and 435 million by 2030.
The impact on the world economy from the disease will rise to about $376 billion by next year, or 11.6 percent of the total world healthcare expenditure. The cost to the United States alone was estimated at $198 billion.
