Statistics about obesity

More than one in eight people in the world is now obese. The prevalence of obesity worldwide nearly tripled from 1975 to 2016 and has reached 13%.

The number of obese people in the world is increasing. And it’s increasing fast. If the current trend continues, 1.12 billion people will be obese in 2030. Another billion people will be overweight.

Most obese countries in the world

Obesity is defined by the World Health Organisation as people having a body mass index (BMI) higher than or equal to 30. BMI is calculated as someone's weight in kilos divided by the person's height in meters (kg/m2). The countries with the highest proportion of obese people:

United States: 36.2%

Jordan: 35.5%

Saudi Arabia: 35.4%

Libya: 32.5%

Turkey: 32.1%

Egypt: 32.0%

Obesity is deadly

Worldwide, obesity kills 4.72 million people annually. That's about 8% of global deaths and about the same number of people who die from air pollution. The highest death rate from obesity is in Egypt with 187 deaths for every 100.000 people. The lowest is in Japan with 14 per 100.000 people.

The "irony"

Ironically, there are about as many obese people in the world as there are people who suffer from hunger.

Globally, 822 million people suffer from undernourishment while about 800 million are obese. The problem of obesity has literally reached epidemic proportions.

To add to the tragedy of hunger, one third of all food in the world is wasted.

It’s affecting our children

It’s not only adults who are obese. Obesity in children has already reached epidemic proportions in some areas, and the problem is growing in others. By 2019, there were 158 million obese children around the world. By 2030, the number will reach 250 million.

Children from developing countries are particularly at risk because of the growing popularity of junk food as a result of changing lifestyles and aggressive marketing.

It is not always a bliss to become part of the global consumer class.