Nearly 24 million Americans had diabetes in 2007, an increase of more than 3 million in two years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This means that nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population has the disease, mainly Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and sedentary living, the agency said in a report published Tuesday.

The estimates, based on 2007 data, also show that 57 million people have pre-diabetes, a condition that puts people at increased risk for diabetes. Up to 25 percent of people with diabetes do not know they have it, the CDC said -- down from 30 percent two years ago.

Dr. Ann Albright, director of the CDC Division of Diabetes Translation, said the report has "both good news and bad news."

"It is concerning to know that we have more people developing diabetes, and these data are a reminder of the importance of increasing awareness of this condition, especially among people who are at high risk," Albright said in a statement.

A quarter of people age 60 and older had diabetes, the agency said. The number of people worldwide with diabetes will double to 366 million by 2030, according to the World Health Organization, which calls the disease an epidemic.

The CDC report was its first update of the prevalence of diabetes since 2005, when it reported that about 21 million Americans had the disease.

(Agencies via Xinhua June 25, 2008)