Type 2 diabetes is increasingly affecting young adults in Germany, with new evidence showing poverty, low education, and first-generation migration background as factors associated with the disease. A study from the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS, using data from the German National Cohort (NAKO), finds that these social disparities persist even after accounting for family history and individual lifestyle, prompting calls for a shift from purely behavioral advice to structural environment-focused prevention.