T1D Index estimates for 2025 · IDF Africa region · Lower-Middle-Income country
An estimated 8,735 people are living with type 1 diabetes in Zambia in 2025. Each year about 984 people are newly diagnosed and 456 people with T1D die. A further 10,211 people would be alive today had they not died early from type 1 diabetes.
People living with T1D
8,735
New diagnoses this year
984
Deaths this year
456
Missing people
10,211
Expected age at death, diagnosed at 10
31.1years
How many people have type 1 diabetes in Zambia?
8,735 people in Zambia are living with type 1 diabetes in 2025, or 39.9 per 100,000 people. That is higher than the Africa average of 29.7 per 100,000 and lower than the global average of 115.5. Zambia has the 96th-largest number of people living with T1D of the 202 countries in the T1D Index, and the 16th-largest of the 49 countries in the IDF Africa region.
For every 100 people living with T1D in Zambia, another 117 are missing: people who would be alive today had they not died early from T1D.
Is type 1 diabetes increasing in Zambia?
The number of people living with T1D in Zambia went from 926 in 2000 to 8,735 in 2025, and is projected to rise to 19,998 by 2040 (+129%).
People living with type 1 diabetes in Zambia, 2000–2040. Solid line: modelled estimates to 2025; dashed line: projection to 2040.
Type 1 diabetes in Zambia over time, all ages
Year
Living with T1D
New diagnoses
Deaths
Missing people
2000
926
208
223
2,738
2010
2,539
427
293
4,992
2020
5,928
763
412
8,242
2025
8,735
984
456
10,211
2030 (projected)
12,358
1,373
705
12,882
2040 (projected)
19,998
1,700
1,076
20,831
What is the life expectancy with type 1 diabetes in Zambia?
A 10-year-old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Zambia today is expected to live to 31.1, compared with 70.5 for a 10-year-old without T1D: 39.4 years of life lost. Counting years lived with complications as well, T1D costs 43.6 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 14.6 years.
Healthy years of life for a 10-year-old diagnosed with T1D in Zambia, 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
–
26.9
43.6
+ Timely diagnosis for everyone
+3.8
30.7
39.8
+ Insulin and test strips for everyone
+18.3
49.0
21.5
+ Insulin pumps and CGMs for everyone
+6.9
55.9
14.6
How does Zambia compare?
Type 1 diabetes in Zambia compared with the Africa region and the world, 2025
2025
Zambia
Africa
World
People living with T1D per 100,000
39.9
29.7
115.5
New diagnoses per 100,000
4.5
4.0
6.2
Missing people per 100 living with T1D
116.9
160.4
43.0
Expected age at death, 10-year-old with T1D
31.1
24.4
51.3
Expected age at death, 10-year-old in general population
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.
