Diabetes at a Glance Fact Sheet What is diabetes? Diabetes is a
disease in which the body either fails to produce any insulin
(type 1, also called insulin-dependent or juvenile-onset), or
the insulin that it does produce is unable to adequately trigger
the conversion of food into energy (type 2, also called non-
insulin-dependent or adult-onset). Who has diabetes? Federal
statistics estimate that 20.8 million children and adults in the
United States—7 percent of the population—have diabetes. An
estimated 14.6 million Americans have been diagnosed, leaving
6.2 million Americans unaware that they have the disease. Most
people with diabetes have type 2; an estimated 800,000 have type
1. About 1.5 million people age 20 or older will be diagnosed
with diabetes this year. Diabetes is more prevalent among Native
Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian
Americans/Pacific Islanders. An estimated 54 million people in
the U.S have pre-diabetes, a condition that occurs when one has
higher than normal blo