Background: Diabetes rates vary considerably between ethnic groups with two-fold higher rates reported in UAE Emiratis compared with Asians although Asians are more likely to remain undiagnosed. 1 This study investigates body habitus associated with diabetes in UAE ethnic groups.Methods: Data from the DISCOVERY Study1 compared body-mass-index (BMI) and waist circumference between ethnic groups and for those with a new onset of diabetes, using Pearson correlation and linear regression in SPSS software.Results: In 4128 subjects, mean age, BMI and waist were highest in Emirati and non-Emirati Arabs, and lowest in Asians (Table 1). Rates of pre-diabetes were very high in all ethnic groups (52-70%) and almost all Emirati Arabs were either pre-diabetic or diabetic (98.5%).