More than 1 billion people in the world are living with obesity, a newly released global medical study shows.
Worldwide, obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1990, and has quadrupled among children and adolescents. The data, released by renowned UK-based medical
journal The Lancet, show that 43 percent of adults were overweight in 2022.
The study also shows that even though the rates of undernutrition have dropped, it is still a public health challenge in many places, particularly in South-East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Countries with the highest combined rates of underweight and obesity in 2022 were island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean and those in the Middle East and North Africa.
“This new study highlights the importance of preventing and managing obesity from early life to adulthood, through diet, physical activity, and adequate care, as needed,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
WHO has contributed to the data collection and analysis of this study.
A complex chronic disease, obesity has become a crisis, unfolding in epidemic proportions that reflect a stark rise over the past few decades.
While the causes are well understood, as are the evidence-based interventions needed to contain the crisis, the problem is that they are not implemented, according to the UN health agency.
In Europe, overweight and obesity are among the leading causes of death and disability. Estimates suggest they cause more than 1.2 million deaths annually, according to WHO’s regional office.
Obesity increases the risk for many noncommunicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases. Overweight people and those living with obesity have been disproportionately affected by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, often experiencing more severe disease and other
complications, the UN health agency said.
It is considered a cause of at least 13 different types of cancer, likely to be directly responsible for at least 200,000 new cancer cases annually across Europe, according to WHO.
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