OBJECTIVES: As the number of people with diabetes grows worldwide, it becomes a challenging problem for public health budgets. The objective of this study is to investigate and analyze the main characteristics of diabetes in Turkey.   METHODS: Claims data from Turkish Social Security Institution were collected for the diagnosed patients having insulin dependent (IDD) and non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDD) between 2010 and 2014. Prevalence, incidence, age and gender distribution, and mortality figures were aggregated and analyzed in order to show how the disease is evolving. RESULTS: Number of patients diagnosed with diabetes between 2010 and 2014 totaled 3.1 million; nearly 85% with NIDD and 60% were females. On average 645,000 new patients were added yearly. The incidence of diabetes dropped from 0.94% to 0.76% in 2010-2014, where IDD and NIDD were 0.06% and 0.71% in 2014 respectively. While the share of NIDD patients represented 81% in 2010, the figure hiked 90% in 2014. When it comes to age distribution, 46-64 age group received the largest share (48%) among all patients, followed by 25-45 and 65+ age groups, all three constituting nearly 96%. The average age of first diagnosis for male and female were 58.6 and 59.4 respectively, signaling that the disease is late diagnosed compared to other countries. In addition, 21% of females and %14 of males died over four-year time and average age of death was nearly the same in both diabetes types. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the decline in the incidence, diabetes epidemic is expected to grow in the future with lower mortality rates. Late diagnosis of diabetes seems to be the most important problem in Turkey. Then, immediate action is needed for new strategies such as yearly monitoring and public education programs to reach out patients earlier.