Diabetes on the North Shore: how many people need regular eye checks?
At the end of 2025, an estimated 47,306 people in the Waitematā district (the North Shore, West Auckland and Rodney) were on Health New Zealand's Virtual Diabetes Register, up 49.8% from 31,582 in 2019. That was the fastest rise of New Zealand's 20 health districts; the national count rose 37.7%.
Key numbers
- 47,306people in the Waitematā district on the diabetes register, end of 2025Health NZ Virtual Diabetes Register, 2025
- 49.8%rise since 2019, the fastest of 20 districts (New Zealand: 37.7%)Health NZ Virtual Diabetes Register, 2019 to 2025
- 49.4per 1,000 people, age-standardised, up from 38.0 in 2019 (New Zealand: 48.6)Health NZ Virtual Diabetes Register, 2019 and 2025
- 21,485aged 65 and over, 45.4% of everyone on the register in the districtHealth NZ Virtual Diabetes Register, 2025
- 1 in 5enrolled people aged 70 to 84 in the district is on the registerHealth NZ Virtual Diabetes Register, 2025
People on the diabetes register in the Waitematā district, 2015 to 2025
| Year | Waitematā: people | Waitematā: per 1,000 (age-standardised) | New Zealand: people | New Zealand: per 1,000 (age-standardised) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 27,212 | 37.3 | 236,101 | 37.8 |
| 2016 | 27,847 | 37.0 | 241,484 | 37.8 |
| 2017 | 28,275 | 36.4 | 246,404 | 37.8 |
| 2018 | 29,448 | 36.7 | 254,247 | 38.2 |
| 2019 | 31,582 | 38.0 | 265,658 | 38.8 |
| 2020 | 33,271 | 38.9 | 278,646 | 40.0 |
| 2021 | 34,752 | 40.0 | 292,152 | 41.5 |
| 2022 | 37,723 | 42.8 | 307,386 | 43.1 |
| 2023 | 41,182 | 45.2 | 323,716 | 44.3 |
| 2024 | 43,991 | 47.1 | 346,774 | 46.7 |
| 2025 | 47,306 | 49.4 | 365,867 | 48.6 |
By age, 2025
Diabetes becomes much more common with age. In 2025, 21,485 of the district's 47,306 people on the register (45.4%) were 65 or older, up from 14,447 in 2019 (48.7% more).
| Age group | People on the register | Per 1,000 enrolled people in the age group |
|---|---|---|
| Under 40 | 4,828 | 14.3 |
| 40 to 54 | 10,222 | 74.1 |
| 55 to 64 | 10,771 | 141.7 |
| 65 to 74 | 11,341 | 194.6 |
| 75 to 84 | 7,715 | 215.9 |
| 85 and over | 2,429 | 193.9 |
Rates by age group are the register count divided by the number of people of that age enrolled with a general practice in the district (the denominator Health NZ uses), not age-standardised.
Download the data: diabetes-eye-checks-north-shore.csv (CSV, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit to NVISION Eyecare and the original source).
What this means if you or someone in your family has diabetes
- Diabetes eye screening is free. Healthify NZ says people with diabetes are usually offered a free eye screen every 2 years through their district's retinal screening service, and more often if eye changes are found. Your GP or practice nurse makes the referral.
- Healthify NZ also advises seeing your doctor or an optometrist straight away if your vision changes, rather than waiting for the next screen.
- The number of people who need those screens in the Waitematā district grew by 15,724 between 2019 and 2025. Nearly half (45.4%) are 65 or older.
- A routine eye exam is separate from the funded diabetes screen and does not replace it. An adult eye examination at NVISION includes a widefield retinal photo, and you can book one whenever you want your eyes and glasses checked.
How we did it
We downloaded the tables from Health New Zealand's Virtual Diabetes Register web tool (version published 25 June 2026) on 12 November 2026: people on the register by health district and year (2011 to 2025), by district and five-year age group for 2019 and 2025, and the New Zealand totals.
The register counts people alive and enrolled with a general practice (PHO) at 31 December each year whose health records point to diabetes. The rates per 1,000 are Health NZ's own age-standardised rates (World Health Organization standard population), with the number of people enrolled with a general practice as the population. Age-standardised rates allow fair comparison between districts and years whose populations have different ages.
The percentage changes, rankings and age-group rates are our own arithmetic on those tables. A separate check script downloads the figures again from the tool in a different layout and confirms every headline number.
Sources
- Health New Zealand: Virtual Diabetes Register web tool: version published 25 June 2026; data at 31 December, 2011 to 2025; CC BY 4.0
- Healthify NZ: Diabetes and eye problems: screening interval and when to seek care (page last updated 8 June 2022)
Limits
- The register is an estimate built from health records (hospital stays, diabetes clinic and retinal screening visits, funded diabetes medicines and repeated blood sugar tests). It can miss people whose diabetes is undiagnosed or who are not enrolled with a general practice, and it does not separate type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
- The Waitematā district is Health NZ's district of residence (the former Waitematā DHB). It covers West Auckland and Rodney as well as the North Shore; Health NZ does not publish register counts for suburbs.
- Health NZ updated the register method in 2017, 2021 and 2022 and warns against comparing these numbers with figures from older releases. Every number here comes from the June 2026 release.
- Part of the growth comes from population growth: the number of people enrolled with a general practice in the district rose 12.0% between 2019 and 2025. The age-standardised rate rose too, from 38.0 to 49.4 per 1,000.
- The register says nothing about who has had an eye screen or what screening found.
Cite this study
NVISION Eyecare (2026). Diabetes on the North Shore: how many people need regular eye checks? Published 12 November 2026. nvision.nz/research/diabetes-eye-checks-north-shore
The data behind this study is in diabetes-eye-checks-north-shore.csv, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit. This is general information drawn from public data, not medical advice about your own eyes.
Due for an eye exam?
An adult eye examination includes a widefield retinal photo. No referral needed. Call 09-475 5548.