Frequently asked question: How many people in the Netherlands have diabetes?

Diabetes is quite common, especially Type 1. More than 830,000 people in the Netherlands have diabetes; 90% of them have Type 1, a small percentage have Type 2, and a very small percentage have another form of diabetes. There are also a lot of people with diabetes who do not know they have it. Therefore, the actual number of people with diabetes in the Netherlands is probably higher, around 1 million people.
We think the number of children and young people with diabetes in the Netherlands is about 6000. The majority (90%) have diabetes Type 1 and less than 10% have diabetes Type 2, but this number seems to be increasing. In the United States, more and more children are severely overweight, causing an increase in diabetes Type 2 there. In the Netherlands, more and more children suffer from severe obesity also, so there is a fear of an increase in incidence of diabetes Type 2.

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