The number of adults estimated to be living with diabetes surged to 422 million by 2014, a nearly four-fold increase on 1980 figures, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday, in its first-ever global report on the disease.

"Globally, an estimated 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014, compared to 108 million in 1980," the UN health agency said, warning that the condition had spread because of worldwide changes "in the way people eat, move and live."