(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — More South Koreans are contracting diabetes with the proliferation of obesity and an aging population, data showed Monday.
The National Health Insurance Service reported that 3,564,059 people were diagnosed with diabetes last year, up 24.3 percent from 2017. The annual rate of increase was 5.6 percent.
Sorted by age group, 48.7 percent of the people diagnosed with diabetes last year were between 40 and 64 years of age, followed by those over 65 years of age (46.6 percent).
In the 40 to 64 age group, 55 percent were men. In the age group over 65, 55.2 percent were women.
An increasing number of younger South Koreans, too, are contracting diabetes.
Last year, 37,916 people diagnosed with diabetes were in their 20s, with an annual increase rate of 12 percent since 2017. Another 115,712 diabetics were in their 30s, rising by an average of 5.9 percent each year.
For every 100,000 South Koreans, 6,932 people contracted diabetes last year, up by 23.3 percent from 2017.
The total cost of medical treatment for diabetes covered by national health insurance reached 3.23 trillion won (US$2.46 billion), up by 45.1 percent. The medical cost per patient was 908,000 won, an increase of 16.7 percent.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
