T1D Index estimates for 2025 · IDF Western Pacific region · High-Income country
An estimated 33,975 people are living with type 1 diabetes in South Korea in 2025. Each year about 1,612 people are newly diagnosed and 192 people with T1D die. A further 2,865 people would be alive today had they not died early from type 1 diabetes.
People living with T1D
33,975
New diagnoses this year
1,612
Deaths this year
192
Missing people
2,865
Expected age at death, diagnosed at 10
74.8years
How many people have type 1 diabetes in South Korea?
33,975 people in South Korea are living with type 1 diabetes in 2025, or 65.8 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. South Korea has the 38th-largest number of people living with T1D of the 202 countries in the T1D Index, and the 4th-largest of the 33 countries in the IDF Western Pacific region.
For every 100 people living with T1D in South Korea, another 8 are missing: people who would be alive today had they not died early from T1D.
Is type 1 diabetes increasing in South Korea?
The number of people living with T1D in South Korea went from 5,006 in 2000 to 33,975 in 2025, and is projected to rise to 51,390 by 2040 (+51%).
People living with type 1 diabetes in South Korea, 2000–2040. Solid line: modelled estimates to 2025; dashed line: projection to 2040.
Type 1 diabetes in South Korea over time, all ages
Year
Living with T1D
New diagnoses
Deaths
Missing people
2000
5,006
646
43
911
2010
14,182
1,267
80
1,388
2020
27,205
1,516
132
2,229
2025
33,975
1,612
192
2,865
2030 (projected)
40,751
1,846
335
3,860
2040 (projected)
51,390
1,615
497
6,908
What is the life expectancy with type 1 diabetes in South Korea?
A 10-year-old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in South Korea today is expected to live to 74.8, compared with 84.8 for a 10-year-old without T1D: 10.0 years of life lost. Counting years lived with complications as well, T1D costs 22.4 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 13.7 years.
Healthy years of life for a 10-year-old diagnosed with T1D in South 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
–
62.3
22.4
+ Timely diagnosis for everyone
–
62.3
22.5
+ Insulin and test strips for everyone
+1.4
63.7
21.1
+ Insulin pumps and CGMs for everyone
+7.3
71.0
13.7
How does South Korea compare?
Type 1 diabetes in South Korea compared with the Western Pacific region and the world, 2025
2025
South Korea
Western Pacific
World
People living with T1D per 100,000
65.8
43.1
115.5
New diagnoses per 100,000
3.1
2.4
6.2
Missing people per 100 living with T1D
8.4
30.7
43.0
Expected age at death, 10-year-old with T1D
74.8
56.4
51.3
Expected age at death, 10-year-old in general population
84.8
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.
