This is evident from a new study into poor dietary habits, published on Friday by The Lancet and presented by the World Health Organization (WHO). Underweight has decreased significantly over the same period, making obesity the most common form of weight problems worldwide.
The researchers examined data from more than 220 million people in more than 190 countries. They looked at the body mass index (BMI) to investigate how obesity and underweight have evolved worldwide between 1990 and 2022. Adults are considered obese if they have a BMI greater than or equal to 30, and a BMI lower than that is considered underweight. then 18.5.
The results show that in 2022 there would be more than a billion people with obesity worldwide, that is one in eight people. In addition, the number of obese adults has more than doubled since 1990, to 880 million. Of all women, 18.5 percent are now obese, and 14 percent of all men are obese. The data also shows that 2.5 billion or 43 percent of adults were overweight in 2022.
Children
In children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years, the number of obese people has even quadrupled between 1990 and 2022. In total, almost 160 million young people (65 million girls or 6.9 percent, and 94 million boys or 9.3 percent) were obese in 2022. For comparison: in 1990 there were only 31 million.
“It is deeply worrying that the epidemic of obesity that occurred in adults across much of the world in 1990 is now being mirrored in school-aged children and adolescents,” said one of the study’s authors, Professor Majid Ezzati of Imperial College in London.
Underweight
At the same time, hundreds of millions of people are still affected by malnutrition, “particularly in the poorest parts of the world,” the study also said. The proportion of underweight children and adolescents fell by about a fifth between 1990 and 2022. The proportion of underweight adults has more than halved in the same period.
The research also shows that while the percentage of underweight people has fallen, it is still a public health challenge in many places, especially in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Promote healthy food”
Both obesity and underweight are forms of malnutrition that are harmful to health in different ways. For example, being underweight is linked to half of the deaths in children under the age of 5 and obesity can cause diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.
“To successfully address both forms of malnutrition, it is vital that we promote the availability and affordability of healthy, nutritious foods,” Ezzati added.
Double problem
The highest percentages are seen on the small islands of Oceania, where more than 70 percent of adults and more than 30 percent of children are obese. But the obesity rate is also considerably higher in the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa than in Western Europe.
Some countries have a double problem: there are still many underweight people, while at the same time the share of obese people is rising rapidly. This mainly applies to Asian and African countries.
Food manufacturers must cooperate
“This new study highlights the importance of preventing and controlling obesity from childhood through adulthood, through diet, exercise and adequate care, as needed,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO.
“To meet global obesity reduction targets, governments and communities must act, supported by evidence-based policies from WHO and national public health authorities. And importantly, it requires the cooperation of the private sector, which must be responsible for the health effects of their products,” Ghebreyesus added.
