Diabetes prevalence increases with age. 

Approximately half of all diabetes cases occur in people older than 55 years of age.

Approximately 18.3% (8.6 million) of the United States population age 60 and older have diabetes.

For every white American who gets diabetes, 1.6 African Americans get diabetes.

Twenty-five percent of African Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes.

In 1998, of the 30 million Hispanic Americans, about 1.2 million had been diagnosed with diabetes.

Diabetes is particularly common among middle-aged and older Hispanic Americans. For those over the age 50, about 25 to 30 percent have either diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes.