No Walk in the Park: What Does Diabetes Really Cost Us?

In the first episode, WU economist Klaus Prettner speaks with his colleague Karin Heitzmann about new findings on the economic impact of diabetes on society. Previous assumptions had failed to account for numerous indirect costs, which meant that the true extent of the consequences had long been underestimated.

New Findings on the Economic Costs of Diabetes

Diabetes is one of the greatest global health challenges of our time: More than 500 million people worldwide are affected, and the number is rising. In Austria, too, about one in ten adults suffers from this chronic disease. However, the significance of diabetes extends far beyond individual health consequences and affects the entire economy.

Klaus Prettner’s research shows that conventional methods for calculating the costs of disease often fall short. In particular, the widely used “cost-of-illness” approach overestimates or distorts costs because it does not sufficiently account for economic adjustment mechanisms (e.g., workforce replacement) and macroeconomic interdependencies.

A Holistic Research Approach

A new macroeconomic modeling approach, on the other hand, enables a more nuanced assessment by distinguishing between pure shifts in consumption and effects that are actually relevant to economic growth. After all, not all health care expenditures represent genuine economic costs, as they remain within the economic cycle.

In this interview, Klaus Prettner explains the true cost drivers and the burdens on the economy and society.

The first episode is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever podcasts are available. New episodes are released monthly.

Further Information

Chen, S., Cao, Z., Chen, W., Zhao, J., Jiao, L., Prettner, K., Kuhn, M., Pan, A., Bärnighausen, T. W., & Bloom, D. E. (2026). The global macroeconomic burden of diabetes mellitus. In: Nature Medicine, 32(1), 126–138. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-04027-5