The percentage of adult Americans diagnosed with diabetes has risen steadily for the past 20 years, up to 8 percent of the population in 2008. In some regions of the country, however, the rate is nearly twice that. Since 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released estimates for each county, and mapping that data reveals that there are clusters in states like Alabama and Mississippi, where around one in seven adults is diabetic.

So begins an article in Slate. What’s next is an interactive graph showing the increase in diabetes in the United States by county over the period 2004 – 2008. It’s an incredible graph.

I recommend you give it a look. I would not have believed you could see that much change in so short a period of time.

James Pilant