T1D Index estimates for 2025 · IDF Western Pacific region · Low-Income country
An estimated 12,699 people are living with type 1 diabetes in North Korea in 2025. Each year about 915 people are newly diagnosed and 508 people with T1D die. A further 10,141 people would be alive today had they not died early from type 1 diabetes.
People living with T1D
12,699
New diagnoses this year
915
Deaths this year
508
Missing people
10,141
Expected age at death, diagnosed at 10
37.3years
How many people have type 1 diabetes in North Korea?
12,699 people in North Korea are living with type 1 diabetes in 2025, or 47.8 per 100,000 people. That is higher than the Western Pacific average of 43.1 per 100,000 and lower than the global average of 115.5. North Korea has the 81st-largest number of people living with T1D of the 202 countries in the T1D Index, and the 10th-largest of the 33 countries in the IDF Western Pacific region.
For every 100 people living with T1D in North Korea, another 80 are missing: people who would be alive today had they not died early from T1D.
Is type 1 diabetes increasing in North Korea?
The number of people living with T1D in North Korea went from 2,067 in 2000 to 12,699 in 2025, and is projected to rise to 18,518 by 2040 (+46%).
People living with type 1 diabetes in North Korea, 2000–2040. Solid line: modelled estimates to 2025; dashed line: projection to 2040.
Type 1 diabetes in North Korea over time, all ages
Year
Living with T1D
New diagnoses
Deaths
Missing people
2000
2,067
339
219
2,116
2010
5,860
684
339
4,730
2020
10,440
827
456
8,137
2025
12,699
915
508
10,141
2030 (projected)
14,944
1,124
677
12,564
2040 (projected)
18,518
1,078
795
18,306
What is the life expectancy with type 1 diabetes in North Korea?
A 10-year-old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in North Korea today is expected to live to 37.3, compared with 75.3 for a 10-year-old without T1D: 38.0 years of life lost. Counting years lived with complications as well, T1D costs 44.9 years of healthy life at today's level of care. If everyone received timely diagnosis, insulin and test strips, and insulin pumps and CGMs, that loss would fall to 14.7 years.
Healthy years of life for a 10-year-old diagnosed with T1D in North Korea, as each level of care is added in turn
Level of care
Healthy years restored
Healthy years of life
Healthy years still lost
Current level of care
–
30.4
44.9
+ Timely diagnosis for everyone
+5.0
35.4
39.9
+ Insulin and test strips for everyone
+17.8
53.2
22.1
+ Insulin pumps and CGMs for everyone
+7.4
60.6
14.7
How does North Korea compare?
Type 1 diabetes in North Korea compared with the Western Pacific region and the world, 2025
2025
North Korea
Western Pacific
World
People living with T1D per 100,000
47.8
43.1
115.5
New diagnoses per 100,000
3.4
2.4
6.2
Missing people per 100 living with T1D
79.9
30.7
43.0
Expected age at death, 10-year-old with T1D
37.3
56.4
51.3
Expected age at death, 10-year-old in general population
75.3
79.1
77.0
Type 1 diabetes in other Western Pacific countries
All figures are T1D Index version 3.0 estimates for all ages. Missing people are those who would be alive today had they not died early from type 1 diabetes. Expected age at death is for a 10-year-old. See Data & Methods for how the estimates are made and the peer-reviewed publications behind them.
