The number of people living with diabetes is growing across the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced.

In 2014, 422 million adults (or 8.5 percent of the global population) had diabetes, compared with 108 million (4.7 percent) in 1980.Also, in 2014, more than one in three adults aged over 18 years were overweight and more than one in 10 were obese, according to the WHO.Almost 90 percent of the people struggling with Type 2 diabetes are obese.

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This announcement comes in commemoration of World Health Day, a global health awareness day celebrated every year on April 7, under the sponsorship of WHO.

In 1948, the WHO held the First World Health Assembly, where it was decided that April 7 will be the World Health Day from 1950. The World Health Day is held to mark the formation of the WHO, and is seen as an opportunity by the organization to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year. This year's theme is to end diabetes.

Diabetes caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012. Higher-than-optimal blood glucose caused an additional 2.2 million deaths in the same year by increasing the risks of cardiovascular and other diseases.

The rate of diabetes rose the most in Africa, the Middle East and Asia - with its prevalence in the Eastern Mediterranean more than doubling to 13.7 per cent of the population - the only world region with a double-digit percentage. The increase coincides with growing rates of obesity - in the US and Britain, two-thirds of people are now overweight or obese.

"Around 100 years after the insulin hormone was discovered, the 'Global report on diabetes' shows that essential diabetes medicines and technologies, including insulin, needed for treatment are generally available in only one in three of the world's poorest countries," said Etienne Krug, director of WHO's Department for the Management of NCDs, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention.

TagsDiabetes, world health organisation (WHO), Global report on diabetes, NBA 2015