The Lancet released a major report! World Health Organization: There are more than one billion obese people in the world!

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The Lancet released a major report! World Health Organization: There are more than one billion obese people in the world!

According to a global analysis published in The Lancet on February 29, 2024, the total number of obese children, adolescents and adults in the world has exceeded one billion. Since 1990, the proportion of people suffering from underweight has continued to decline, making obesity the most common form of malnutrition in most countries. (LANCET, The Lancet, 2022 impact factor 168.9)

Researchers analyzed weight and height measurements of more than 220 million people aged 5 and above (63 million aged 5 to 19 and 158 million aged 20 and above) from more than 190 countries.

Let’s go straight to Picture 1, because Picture 1 has never disappointed us!

Figure 1 Age-standardised combined prevalence of underweight and obesity by country, for adults (age ≥20 years). The circular bar plots show the burden of underweight and obesity in 1990 and 2022. The lengths of bars show the age-standardised prevalence of underweight (blue) and obesity (red), and their sum shows the age-standardised combined prevalence. Country names are coloured by region. The numbers in brackets after each country's name show the total number of data sources and the number of nationally representative data sources, respectively. Countries are ordered by decreasing posterior mean combined prevalence within each region. The maps show the change in combined prevalence of underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022, and its level in 2022. The density plot alongside each map shows the smoothed distribution of estimates across countries.

Global data analysis estimates that obesity rates among children and adolescents worldwide will be four times higher in 2022 than in 1990. Among adults, obesity rates more than doubled among females and nearly tripled among males. In 2022, a total of 159 million children and adolescents and 879 million adults will be obese.

The study classified adults as obese if their BMI was greater than or equal to 30 and as underweight if their BMI was less than 18.5. Among school-age children (5 to 9 years) and adolescents (10 to 19 years), the BMI used to define obesity and underweight depends on age and sex, as children and adolescents gain significantly in height and weight as they grow.

From 1990 to 2022, obesity rates more than quadrupled among girls (from 1.7% to 6.9%) and boys (from 2.1% to 9.3%) worldwide, with increases seen in almost all countries.

Among adults, obesity rates more than tripled between 1990 and 2022 in women (from 8.8% to 18.5%) and almost tripled in men (from 4.8% to 14.0%).

“This new study underscores the importance of preventing and managing obesity from early childhood through adulthood, through diet, physical activity and, where necessary, appropriate care,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “Getting back on track to meet global targets for obesity control will require the commitment of governments and societies, with evidence-based policy support from WHO and national public health agencies. Importantly, this will require the collaboration of the private sector, which must be held accountable for the health impacts of their products.”

The increase in the double nutritional burden is particularly pronounced in some low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Polynesia, Micronesia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa. Obesity rates in these regions now exceed those in many high-income industrialized countries, especially in Europe.

Adult obesity rates:

In 2022, the countries with the highest obesity rates are island nations in the Polynesian and Micronesian regions, represented by Tonga and American Samoa for women and American Samoa and Nauru for men, where more than 60% of adults are obese.

UK: Obesity rates for women increased from 13.8% in 1990 to 28.3% in 2022, and for men from 10.7% to 26.9%.

USA: Obesity rates for women increased from 21.2% in 1990 to 43.8% in 2022, and for men from 16.9% to 41.6%.

China: Obesity rates for women increased from 2.0% in 1990 to 7.8% in 2022, and for men from 0.8% to 8.9%.

India: Obesity rates for women increased from 1.2% in 1990 to 9.8% in 2022, and for men from 0.5% to 5.4%.

Obesity rates among children and adolescents:

In 2022, the countries with the highest obesity prevalence were Niue and the Cook Islands, covering both male and female children and adolescents, with more than 30% of children and adolescents suffering from obesity in these areas.

UK: Obesity rates for girls increased from 4.7% in 1990 to 10.1% in 2022, and for boys from 4.3% to 12.4%.

USA: Obesity rates for girls increased from 11.6% in 1990 to 19.4% in 2022, and for boys from 11.5% to 21.7%.

China: Obesity rates for girls increased from 0.6% in 1990 to 7.7% in 2022, and for boys from 1.3% to 15.2%.

India: Obesity rates for girls and boys increased from 0.1% in 1990 to 3.1% and 3.9% in 2022, respectively.

The study has some limitations: Although body mass index (BMI) is an imperfect measure of the distribution and extent of body fat, it is widely recorded in population-based surveys, making analyses like this possible. Some countries had less data, and three countries had no studies, meaning their estimates are more uncertain. Data availability also varied by age group, with less data available for children aged 5 to 9 years and people over 65 years, increasing the uncertainty of estimates for these age groups.