1. The aims of the consensus meeting were to review the epidemiology, pathophysiology, management, and implications of the rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes in young people and to suggest means by which the continuing rise in incidence and prevalence might be prevented. 2. The overall global prevalence of type 2 diabetes is rising steadily. Previously, type 2 diabetes was predominantly a disease of middle-aged and older people. In recent decades, the age of onset has decreased and type 2 diabetes has been reported in adolescents and children worldwide, particularly in highprevalence populations. Japan has seen an approximate fourfold rise in the incidence of type 2 diabetes in 6-to 15-year-olds, and between 8 and 45% of newly presenting children and adolescents in the US have type 2 diabetes. The problem is particularly noticeable in indigenous peoples. Population-based data, however, are sparse and indeed absent in most countries.

3. Additional cardiovascular risk factors are often associated with type 2 diabetes in the young, and microangiopathy is as common or commoner in those developing type 2 diabetes at a young age as in those with type 1 diabetes. This has profound societal implications.