This is the first of two policy briefs of the European Diabetes Literacy project. It provides an overview of the current practice and cost of diabetes self-management education (DSME) in Europe. Like the second policy brief, which focuses on the effectiveness of diabetes self-management education, this first policy brief combines the results of the Diabetes Literacy project with the outcomes of policy dialogues that were held during the 18th European Health Forum Gastein 2015 and the 23rd World Diabetes Congress 2015.