Diabetes now affects a staggering 246 million people worldwide, with 46% of all those affected in the 40-59 age group, according to data released on Dec. 4th by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

Based on the new data. researchers project that the total number of people living with diabetes will skyrocket to 380 million within twenty years if nothing is done.

"Just twenty years ago, the best information available suggested that 30 million people had diabetes," IDF President Pierre Lefebvre told journalists in Cape Town. "A bleaker picture has now emerged. Diabetes is fast becoming the epidemic of the 21st century."

Diabetes, mostly type 2 diabetes, now affects 5.9% of the world's adult population with almost 80% of the total in developing countries, the researchers said.

The regions with the highest rates are the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, where 9.2 % of the adult population are affected, and North America (8.4%). The highest numbers, however, are found in the Western Pacific, where some 67 million people have diabetes, followed by Europe with 53 million.

India leads countries withthe largest number of people with diabetes with a current figure of 40.9 million, followed by China with 39.8 million. The remainder of the top ten are the United States, Russia, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, Brazil, Mexico and Egypt.

"The diabetes time bomb has been ticking for 50 years, and it's been getting louder," said IDF President-Elect Martin Silink. "Despite the warning, successive generations of world leaders have largely ignored the threat. Diabetes has now exploded with the force felt greatest in the Middle East, India, China and the USA."