UAE diabetes statistics and high blood pressure: the undiagnosed gap

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that 20.7% of UAE adults aged 20 to 79 had diabetes in 2024, about 1.27 million people, and that 64.0% of them had not been diagnosed. The World Health Organization (WHO) finds the same shape for high blood pressure: about 2.1 million UAE adults aged 30 to 79 have it, and 37% of them have been diagnosed. Those are the headline UAE diabetes statistics for World Diabetes Day on 14 November, and the gap between having a condition and knowing about it is the larger story inside them.

This article reads the primary sources side by side: the IDF Diabetes Atlas, the UAE National Health Survey 2017 to 2018, WHO's 2025 hypertension profile for the UAE, and peer-reviewed studies of Emirati and expatriate adults. Each figure comes with its year and sample, and the last section lists where every number came from.

What do the UAE diabetes statistics say?

The IDF Diabetes Atlas (11th edition, 2025) gives these estimates for UAE adults aged 20 to 79 in 2024:

• Diabetes: 20.7%, about 1,274,000 people.
• Not yet diagnosed: 64.0% of them, about 815,000 people.
• Impaired fasting glucose, a fasting sugar above normal but below the diabetes line: 17.0%.
• Impaired glucose tolerance: 18.2%.
• Projection for 2050: 22.7%, about 1,877,000 people.

The percentages are age-standardised: adjusted to a standard world age structure, so that countries with younger and older populations can be compared. For UAE adults, the IDF lists one data source, the UAE National Diabetes and Lifestyle Study published in 2018, described below.

The UAE National Health Survey 2017 to 2018, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) with WHO's STEPS method, gives a lower figure. Its teams visited randomly selected households in all seven emirates between November 2017 and April 2018, and 8,214 adults took part, a response rate of 87%. Among adults aged 18 to 69, 11.8% had a raised fasting glucose or were taking medicine for it, and another 11.7% had impaired fasting glucose.

The two figures are not in conflict, because they measure different things. The survey counted adults aged 18 to 69 as they are, took one finger-prick fasting glucose on a portable device, and did not use HbA1c to find new cases. The IDF figure covers ages 20 to 79, is age-standardised, and rests on a study that measured fasting glucose in venous blood. A prevalence figure depends on who is counted and how.

How much diabetes goes undiagnosed in the UAE?

The IDF's 64.0% mirrors the study it rests on. For the UAE National Diabetes and Lifestyle Study (Sulaiman and colleagues, Scientific Reports, 2018), researchers invited every tenth adult attending visa-renewal medical centres in Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates in 2013 to 2014. Of 2,724 expatriate adults who completed a questionnaire and a fasting blood test, 15.5% had diabetes (19.1% after adjusting for age and sex), and 64.2% of those had not known.

Other UAE studies found a smaller gap, which says as much about who was tested as about the country:

• Emirati citizens in Al Ain (Saadi and colleagues, published 2007, 373 adults tested): 10.5% had diagnosed diabetes and 6.6% had diabetes that had not been diagnosed, so about 39% of diabetes was undiagnosed.
• Dubai Household Health Survey 2019 (Al Awadi and colleagues, 1,799 adults with an HbA1c result): 13.7% had diabetes, 11.5% known and 2.1% newly found, and the authors put the newly found share at 13% of all diabetes. Prevalence was 19.3% in Emiratis and 12.4% in expatriates.

Across these UAE studies, the share of diabetes found undiagnosed runs from about one in eight to about two in three, depending on the year, the place, the group sampled and the test. The IDF's national estimate sits at the top of that range, and the source it lists is the expatriate study.

How common is high blood pressure in the UAE?

WHO's hypertension profile for the UAE, part of its Global report on hypertension 2025, estimates that 35% of adults aged 30 to 79 had hypertension in 2024: 39% of men and 25% of women, about 2.1 million people. Of them, 37% had been diagnosed, 31% were being treated and 18% had their blood pressure under control. WHO counts hypertension as a reading of 140/90 mmHg or above, or taking medicine for it, and control as treatment plus a reading below 140/90.

That leaves about 1.3 million adults aged 30 to 79 whose high blood pressure has not been diagnosed. The profile's split by sex shows where most of them are. Men make up about four in five of the adults with hypertension, and 36% of men with it had been diagnosed, against 46% of women. That works out at roughly 1.1 million men with high blood pressure that has not been diagnosed.

The national survey points the same way. In 2017 to 2018, 28.8% of adults aged 18 to 69 had raised blood pressure (37.8% of men, 19.5% of women), and 72.5% of them were not taking medicine for it. A 2021 meta-analysis of 15 UAE studies covering 139,907 adults (Bhagavathula and colleagues) found a pooled prevalence of 31% and pooled awareness of 29%.

Why does so much go undiagnosed?

Neither condition usually announces itself

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) notes that type 2 diabetes often goes undiagnosed for years, because blood sugar rises gradually and, in the earlier stages, may not cause the classic symptoms. WHO says most people with hypertension do not feel any symptoms, and the NHS says plainly that the way to find out is to have blood pressure checked. Feeling well does not settle the question either way.

Care is mostly sought for something else

In the 2017 to 2018 national survey, the most common reason for a person's most recent outpatient visit was an acute complaint such as pain, fever, flu or a cough: 40.0% of the 1,826 people who answered. Long-term conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension accounted for 27.8%, and the list of reasons had no separate category for a routine check-up. A condition without symptoms does not prompt the kind of visit most people make.

A young, mostly expatriate workforce

The 2018 study puts expatriates at 80% of the UAE population, and its own sample shows who many of them are: 65% were 40 or younger and 81% were men. Diabetes was less common in the youngest group, but not rare, and it climbed steeply with age.

Blood pressure follows the same climb, and starts early. In the Dubai Household Health Survey 2019 (2,530 adults, each measured three times), hypertension was found in 19.9% of 18 to 29 year olds, 30.1% at 30 to 39, 38.4% at 40 to 49, 53.9% at 50 to 59 and 56.5% at 60 and over. Among young Emiratis in the UAE Healthy Future Study (5,167 volunteers aged 18 to 40, recruited 2016 to 2018, mean age 25.7), the age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension was 22.4%, 30.9% in men and 9.2% in women, and 11.7% had dysglycaemia: blood sugar in the prediabetes or diabetes range, or a known diagnosis.

Put together, a large part of the population is young and feels well, which gives few reasons for a test, and a real share of that group already has raised blood sugar or blood pressure.

What HbA1c and fasting glucose catch

Two blood tests do most of the finding for diabetes.

• Fasting glucose measures sugar in the blood after at least 8 hours without food, usually in the morning: a snapshot of one day. The ADA reads 5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L (100 to 125 mg/dL) as prediabetes and 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dL) or above as the diabetes range. The WHO criteria used in the national survey start impaired fasting glucose higher, at 6.1 mmol/L.
• HbA1c measures how much haemoglobin carries glucose, which reflects average blood sugar over the past two to three months. It needs no fasting. The ADA reads 5.7% to 6.4% (39 to 47 mmol/mol) as prediabetes and 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) or above as the diabetes range.

The two mostly agree. In the 2018 expatriate study, about as many new cases were found by fasting glucose as by HbA1c, and most people in the diabetes range on one test were in it on both. Neither is read alone: without clearly high blood sugar, the ADA asks for two abnormal results before diabetes is diagnosed, either two different tests or the same test on two occasions.

On when to test, the ADA advises screening every adult from age 35, and earlier for adults with overweight who have one or more risk factors, using a BMI of 23 rather than 25 for people of Asian ancestry. When results are normal it suggests repeating at least every three years, and yearly with prediabetes.

Clare's panel includes Fasting Glucose and Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), both measured by the lab, together with Fasting Insulin. HOMA-IR is calculated from fasting glucose and insulin, and Estimated Average Glucose (eAG) from HbA1c. The article HbA1c, glucose and insulin: reading them together explains how the three fit, and the full list is under what we test.

How is high blood pressure found?

With a cuff, not a blood test. An inflatable cuff around the upper arm measures the pressure, and the reading is often repeated to confirm it. WHO notes that people can measure their own blood pressure with automated devices, and that an evaluation by a health professional is still important. Before diagnosing hypertension, NICE in the UK confirms a clinic reading of 140/90 mmHg or above with ambulatory monitoring or several days of home readings, and when hypertension is not diagnosed it suggests a clinic reading at least every five years.

Clare's panel has no blood pressure reading, and no blood test can stand in for one. What blood and urine tests add is the picture around it. For everyone with hypertension, NICE lists HbA1c, electrolytes, creatinine, eGFR, total and HDL cholesterol, a urine albumin:creatinine ratio and a strip test for blood in the urine. Clare's panel includes Sodium, Potassium, Creatinine, Estimated GFR (eGFR), Total Cholesterol, HDL Cholesterol and a urinalysis with Urine Protein and Urine Blood / Hemoglobin; the albumin:creatinine ratio is a separate test and is not in it. The pressure itself still comes from the cuff.

Why one result is a starting point

One HbA1c covers about three months, and one blood pressure reading covers a moment; a series of results shows direction. A value that creeps up over several years, even inside the normal band, is worth raising with a doctor, with the results in front of you. When Clare opens, each new result will sit beside the last in one account.

Clare is opening with a waitlist at clare.health.

Methods and sources

Every figure above was read from its source on 13 October 2026. Where we calculated a figure, the item says so.

• Diabetes in the UAE (20.7%, 1,274,000, 64.0%, 815,000, 17.0%, 18.2%, 22.7%, 1,877,000): IDF Diabetes Atlas, 11th edition (2025), United Arab Emirates country data, 2024 estimates (2050 for the projection), adults aged 20 to 79. The IDF names Sulaiman et al. (2018) as its data source for UAE adults.
• Diabetes worldwide, undiagnosed (42.8%): IDF Diabetes Atlas 2025, global data, 2024.
• National survey (11.8%, 11.7%, 28.8%, 37.8%, 19.5%, 72.5%, 40.0%, 27.8%): MOHAP, UAE National Health Survey Report 2017 to 2018. The figures from 11.8% to 72.5% come from its STEPS fact sheet for adults aged 18 to 69, weighted; 40.0% and 27.8% come from its outpatient care table (1,826 respondents). 8,214 adults, 87% response, November 2017 to April 2018, measurements by portable finger-prick devices.
• Expatriate adults (15.5%, 19.1%, 64.2%, 80%, 65%, 81%, age chart): Sulaiman et al., Scientific Reports (2018), UAE National Diabetes and Lifestyle Study phase 1. 2,724 adults at visa-renewal centres, 2013 to 2014; diabetes by self-report or fasting plasma glucose of 7.0 mmol/L or above. Age figures from its Table 2.
• Emiratis in Al Ain (10.5%, 6.6%): Saadi et al., Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice (2007), 373 adults tested. The 39% (38.6%) undiagnosed share is our calculation: 6.6 divided by 17.1.
• Dubai 2019, diabetes (13.7%, 11.5%, 2.1%, 13%, 19.3%, 12.4%): Al Awadi et al., Dubai Diabetes and Endocrinology Journal (2020), Dubai Household Health Survey 2019, 1,799 adults with an HbA1c result, diabetes at HbA1c 6.5% or above.
• Dubai 2019, blood pressure by age: Mamdouh et al., BMC Cardiovascular Disorders (2022), 2,530 adults, hypertension counted from a previous diagnosis or the mean of three readings.
• Young Emiratis (22.4%, 30.9%, 9.2%, 11.7%): Mezhal et al., BMC Cardiovascular Disorders (2023), UAE Healthy Future Study, 5,167 Emirati volunteers aged 18 to 40, recruited February 2016 to December 2018.
• High blood pressure in the UAE (35%, 39%, 25%, 2.1 million, 37%, 31%, 18%, 36%, 46%): WHO, Global report on hypertension 2025, UAE country profile, 2024 estimates, adults aged 30 to 79. Our calculations from its rounded figures: 1.3 million undiagnosed (2.1 million minus 800,000 diagnosed); 63% undiagnosed (100% minus 37%); about 1.7 million men with hypertension (611,000 diagnosed men divided by 36%), which is about four in five of the total; about 1.1 million undiagnosed men (1.7 million minus 611,000).
• High blood pressure worldwide, unaware (44%): WHO hypertension fact sheet (25 September 2025), adults aged 30 to 79 in 2024.
• UAE hypertension studies pooled (31%, 29%): Bhagavathula et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2021), 15 cross-sectional studies, 139,907 adults.
• Test thresholds, screening and blood pressure measurement: ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes 2026, section 2; MedlinePlus, HbA1c test (2025); NIDDK, diabetes tests and diagnosis (2022); NICE guideline NG136 (2019, updated 2026); NHS, blood pressure test (2025); WHO hypertension fact sheet (2025).