Prevent

The vast majority of type 2 diabetes cases can be delayed or prevented, giving people the opportunity to live longer and healthier lives, reducing the significant burden on the health system.

Type 1 diabetes cannot currently be prevented, whereas type 2 diabetes can be prevented.

Robust international evidence has shown that understanding your risk of type 2 diabetes and making some changes to risk factors related to lifestyle (including what we eat and how we move) can help prevent type 2 diabetes in up to 58% of cases1.

In fact, the latest findings from the U.S. Diabetes Prevention Program demonstrated that intensive lifestyle intervention reduced the development of type 2 diabetes by 24% over 21 years and gave 50% of the study participants in the lifestyle group an extra 3.5 years before they developed the condition2.

Sources: 1Tuomilehto, J., et al., Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by Changes in Lifestyle among Subjects with Impaired Glucose Tolerance. New England Journal of Medicine, 2001. 344(18): pp. 1343–1350;

2Knowler, W.C. et al., April 28, 2025. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Know the risk factors for type 2 diabetes

Around 1.5 million Australians are currently living with diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

Further, it is estimated that an additional 16% of Australians are at high risk of developing the condition or may already be living with prediabetes, which is the first sign of disturbance in the regulation of blood glucose levels.

Visit prediabetes and type 2 diabetes for more information.

The good news is that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by understanding and monitoring some well-established risk factors that increase your chances of developing the condition.

Some risk factors can’t be changed (e.g. age and gender), whereas others — particularly lifestyle-related risk factors — can be changed.

Modifiable risk factors (things you can change)

  • Not being active
  • Poor diet
  • Smoking
  • High blood pressure
  • High triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol, or total cholesterol
  • Being overweight

Non-modifiable risk factors (things you can't change)

  • Being older than 40
  • Having a parent, brother or sister with diabetes
  • Being a Pacific Islander, Southern European, Middle Eastern, Northern African or Southern Asian
  • Being an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
  • Having had diabetes during pregnancy

If you have multiple modifiable or non-modifiable risk factors, you may be at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the next 5 to 10 years.

Calculate your risk by visiting the Type 2 diabetes RISK calculator.

If you score 12 or higher on the AUSDRISK calculator, maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, and following a healthy eating plan are some of the ways you can help reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Explore Prevention programs and services and Prevention research to find out more information about how to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Are you at risk?

Welcome to the diabetes risk calculator

Type 2 diabetes is the fastest growing chronic condition in Australia.
To find out your risk of developing type 2 diabetes within the next five years, complete the following 11 short questions.

 

1Your demographic
2Your demographic
3Medical history
4Health & lifestyle
5Health & lifestyle
6Health & lifestyle
7Results & Follow-up
What is your gender at birth?(Required)
How old are you?(Required)

© Commonwealth of Australia as represented by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing 2010

The Australian Type 2 Diabetes Risk Assessment Tool was originally developed by the Baker IDI on behalf of the Australian, State and Territory Governments as part of the COAG initiative to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.