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Ozempic statistics 2025

How many people are using Ozempic in 2025?
Sarah Bradley writer headshot
By | Apr. 22, 2025 Medically reviewed by Leslie Greenberg, MD

Key takeaways

  • Ozempic (semaglutide) is an injectable medication intended to treat Type 2 diabetes. It lowers blood sugar and reduces appetite, so it also commonly causes weight loss.

  • Ozempic lowers blood sugar levels by an average of 1.5% in most people, helping bring their A1C to the recommended 7% or less. It also helps people lose an average of 12–15% of their body weight.

  • Since semaglutide was approved by the FDA for weight loss in 2021, the number of people taking it as either brand-name Ozempic or Wegovy has skyrocketed. About 6% of Americans report currently taking a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic.

In this article:

When it comes to household names of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs, pretty much everyone knows Tylenol, Xanax, Claritin, and Neosporin. Could Ozempic be joining that list? It seems like you can’t turn on the news, scroll through social media, or even talk to your neighbor these days without hearing about the injectable GLP-1 drug that surged in popularity just a few years ago, when a higher-concentration of the active ingredient (semaglutide) was approved as Wegovy for the treatment of weight loss. 

With high rates of both Type 2 diabetes and obesity in the U.S., it makes sense that people would be clamoring for what seems like a quick fix, especially compared to dieting, consistent exercise, or more invasive bariatric surgeries. In 2024, about 1 in 8 adults in the U.S. reported having tried a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic. What’s more interesting, though, is that as many as 75% of those people also report discontinuing the use of the drug, for reasons not totally known yet to researchers. 

Whether Ozempic is a miracle drug or a passing trend remains up for debate, but its popularity at this point in time is clear. Learn more about how well Ozempic works for treating Type 2 diabetes, how many people are taking the drug for weight loss, and just how much money Americans are spending on semaglutide annually.

How many people have Type 2 diabetes?

  • About 36 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes. That’s about 10% of the population. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2024) 
  • The number of Americans with diabetes mirrors the worldwide prevalence: About 10.5% of people globally have diabetes, though a small number have Type 1, not Type 2 diabetes. (International Diabetes Federation, 2024)
  • Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90–95% of all cases of diabetes. (CDC, 2024) 
  • People 65 and older are the age group most likely to have Type 2 diabetes. (American Diabetes Association, 2023) 
  • More than 5,000 children under the age of 18 are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes each year. (CDC, 2024) This number is growing due to increasing rates and severity of childhood obesity. 

How many people are overweight?

How many people have obesity?

  • Around 890 million adults and 160 million children under age 18 have obesity (a BMI of 30 or higher) worldwide. (WHO, 2024)
  • In the U.S., around 42% of adults and 19% of children under age 19 have obesity. (NIDDK, 2021)
  • In about half of all U.S. states, between 20%–35% of people have obesity. In the other half, obesity rates are higher than 35%. Obesity is more common in southern and midwestern states, with Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia having obesity rates over 40%. (CDC, 2024)
  • “Although those numbers are high, obesity rates in 2023 actually declined for the first time in years,” says Richa Mittal, MD, an obesity medicine and weight loss specialist in Dallas, Texas. This includes the South, which has had some of the highest obesity rates in the country. (JAMA Health Forum, 2024)

How many people use GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic?

  • About 1 in 8 adults in the U.S. say they have taken a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic, and of those people, about 6% say they are still currently taking a GLP-1 medication of some kind. (KFF, 2024)  

How many people use GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes?

  • Around 4 in 10, or 43%, of U.S. adults with Type 2 diabetes report taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes by a healthcare provider. (KFF, 2024)

How many people use Ozempic for weight loss?

  • Around 4 in 10 U.S. adults who have used a GLP-1 drug say it was for weight loss and not a chronic health condition like diabetes or heart disease. However, this number is lower for adults over 65: Only 1% of these users have taken a GLP-1 for weight loss alone. (KFF, 2024) 
  • Ozempic was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. At that point, the drug was not a household name. 
  • In 2020, the FDA approved Ozempic for reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in adults with Type 2 diabetes with known heart disease.
  • In 2021, the FDA approved a higher dose of semaglutide, Wegovy, for use in treating obesity. (Indiana University, 2024) “This triggered a sudden increase in semaglutide’s popularity,” Dr. Mittal says. “TikTok trends, celebrity endorsements, and what seemed like real results quickly made it a sought-after weight loss solution.”
  • Prescriptions for Ozempic started rising. From 2019 to 2020, the number of users jumped from 569 to 7,667. In 2021, that number jumped again to more than 13,000. In 2022, it was nearly 23,000. (Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 2024)
  • As the number of people taking Ozempic or Wegovy to lose weight quickly increased, the supply couldn’t keep up with demand. Ozempic shortages made the news, introducing even more people to the drug and its potential benefits for weight loss.
  • Between July 2023 and May 2024, public awareness of Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs grew. Where previously only 19% of U.S. adults knew a lot about these drugs, now 32% say they know about them. (KFF, 2024)
  • In January 2025, the FDA approved Ozempic for reducing the risk of worsening kidney disease and cardiovascular death in adults with Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

How effective is Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes?

  • Ozempic helps people with Type 2 diabetes lower their hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) levels. Your HbA1C is the average level of your blood sugar over the past three months. 
  • In clinical trials, Ozempic lowered HbA1C by 1.4% and 1.6%, depending on the dose of the medication, for people with HbA1C levels between 8% and 8.9%. (Novo Nordisk, 2023)
  • Some studies suggest that HbA1C levels can be lowered even further when semaglutide is combined with other medications for diabetes, like metformin. (American Journal of Translational Research, 2024)

“Because Ozempic aids in weight loss, it can improve diabetes management on that front as well,” Dr. Mittal says.

How much weight do people lose on Ozempic?

“Ozempic typically results in a 6%–10% loss of your total body weight, says Supriya Rao, MD, director of Medical Weight Loss at Lowell General Hospital in Massachusetts. However, Ozempic weight loss rates are lower than some other GLP-1 drugs, according to Dr. Rao. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) averages around 12%–17% body weight loss, and Zepbound (another formulation of tirzepatide) can result in as much as 21% body weight loss in some people.  

How many people use compounded semaglutide?

The number of people taking compounded semaglutide is difficult to accurately report  because compounding pharmacies and facilities that make it aren’t required to report their sales. According to a complaint by the Outsourcing Facilities Association (OFA) against the FDA in February 2025,  an estimated 2 million patients in the United States were given compounded versions of semaglutide from November 2023 to November 2024. 

However, the number of people receiving compounded semaglutide is about to decline: In early 2025, the FDA announced that the national shortage of the drug had ended. This means compounding pharmacies and facilities will no longer have the legal right to make alternative forms of semaglutide. (FDA, 2025)

How much do Americans spend on Ozempic?

  • A report by the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy found that more money was spent on semaglutide in 2023 than on any other drug. Out of more than $722 billion spent, nearly $39 billion was on semaglutide. (American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 2024)
  • Ozempic is also a top seller in Medicare Part D plans, which typically cover the drug when it’s prescribed for Type 2 diabetes. In 2022, Medicare spent $4.6 million on Ozempic. (KFF, 2024)

How many Americans use insurance for Ozempic?

  • In 2023, almost 1.7 million Ozempic prescriptions were filled. (JAMA Health Forum, 2024) Commercial insurance paid for 61.4% of them. Medicare and Medicare Part D covered a combined 38.2%.

How many Americans pay for Ozempic out of pocket?

  • Less than 1% of Americans pay out of pocket for Ozempic. Out of the total number of Ozempic prescriptions filled, this amounts to about 6,732. (JAMA Health Forum, 2024)

Ozempic side effects

  • According to clinical trials, more than 48% of people taking Ozempic experience at least one side effect. The most common one is nausea, which affects almost 37% of users.
  • About 9% of Ozempic users experience diarrhea (which can be alarming and unexpected), 6% experience fatigue, and 5% experience constipation and abdominal pain. (JAMA Network Open, 2022)

If you’re considering taking Ozempic or semaglutide, be sure to contact your healthcare provider, who can determine whether the drug is right for you.