PETALING JAYA: It’s World Diabetes Day and here’s the bitter truth – the disease has become more common in Malaysia, with its prevalence increasing by seven percentage points over the past decade.
We are also the country with the highest rate of cases in South-East Asia.
About 19% of our population was diabetic in 2021 – an increase from 12.1% in 2011. That means about one in every five Malaysians is diabetic.
This 6.9 percentage point jump was also the largest spike among the 10 countries in Asean, according to figures from the World Bank.
