Dhaka: The number of people with diabetes in Bangladesh stood at 7.1 million in 2015 putting it among top 10 countries in the world and it will hit 13.6 million by 2040 taking it to the 9th position globally.

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and Novo Nordisk, a Denmark-based global healthcare company with 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care, came up with the alarming figure ahead of the World Diabetes Day to be observed on Saturday.

CEO of Novo Nordisk Lars Rebien Sorensen, who was also voted the world’s best CEO, IDF President Sir Michael Hirst and Executive Vice President (International Operations) of Novo Nordisk Mike Doustdar shared the latest data on diabetes with UNB and two other media outlets through a teleconferencing from Denmark.

Managing Director of the Novo Nordisk Rajan Kumar coordinated it from its Dhaka office. Commercial Effectiveness Manager of Novo Nordisk Kamal Hossain was also present.

This year’s World Diabetes Day 2015 campaign marks the second of a three-year (2014-16) focus on healthy eating and diabetes.

Some 415 million adults have diabetes around the world (in 2015) and by 2040 this will rise to 642 million.

China is on top of the list followed by India, the USA, Brazil, Russian Federation, Mexico, Indonesia, Egypt, Japan, and Bangladesh (10th).

The number of people with diabetes in China is now 109.6 million which will jump to 150.7 million by 2040. In India, the number is 69.2 million now which will reach 123.5 million by 2040.

Pakistan which is not there among top 10 countries right now will have 14.4 million people with diabetes by 2040 to be put on the 8th position, one notch ahead of Bangladesh.

In South East Asia, some 78.3 million people have diabetes (in 2015), while it will be 140.2 million by 2040.

One with diabetes has abnormally high blood glucose levels in his or her body, either because he or she not producing enough insulin or because the body does not respond properly to insulin, according to the IDF.

For people living in poverty, the annual cost of diabetes care often exceeds a family’s annual income.