1 out of every 8 people worldwide is obese

More than 1 billion people around the world, or approximately 1 in 8 people, are obese, making it the most common form of malnutrition in nearly every country.

Francesco Branca Researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) compiled data from more than 3,600 studies published over the past 35 years to understand how obesity rates have changed between 1990 and 2022. The study included approximately 230 million people in 197 countries. The researchers then calculated participants’ BMI (a score based on height and weight) to estimate how obesity rates changed over time.

During the study period, global obesity prevalence more than doubled in adults aged 20 years and older and quadrupled in children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years. By 2022, obesity rates among women and girls have increased in approximately 93% of countries. The same was true for boys in all but five countries. France was the only country where obesity rates among men did not increase.

Adult obesity rates rose the most in countries in the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North Africa. Meanwhile, the biggest increases in child and adolescent obesity were in Brunei, Chile, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Caribbean island states.

Obesity increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, and a variety of other health problems. “It is very worrying that the obesity epidemic that was evident among adults in many parts of the world in 1990 is now being reflected in school-age children and adolescents,” he said. Majid Ezati researchers from Imperial College London, one of the study’s senior authors, said in a press release.

Researchers believe that calorie- and sugar-rich processed foods, which have become more widely available around the world in recent decades, are partly to blame for the skyrocketing obesity rates. However, researchers note that focusing on individual behaviors such as diet and exercise has had, and will continue to have, little impact on the prevalence of obesity. To truly prevent and manage obesity, governments around the world need to implement policies that make healthy food and physical activity more accessible and affordable, Branca said in a press release.