Overweight and obesity rates to jump in coming years

Just over half of the world’s population – more than four billion people - will be living with overweight or obesity by 2035 if current trends continue, the World Obesity Federation has warned.

It has just published its World Obesity Atlas 2023 which states that if prevention and treatment measures do not improve, the economic impact of overweight and obesity will reach over €3.7 trillion annually by 2035.

If current trends continue, 51% of the world’s population – over four billion people – will be overweight or obese. One in four people worldwide – two billion people – will be obese.

The atlas also estimates that childhood obesity could more than double between 2020 and 2035 if changes do not occur. It predicts that rates will jump by 100% among boys reaching 208 millon by 2035, and by 125% among girls to 175 million during the same period.

Specifically in the European region, the proportion of boys affected by obesity is expected to increase from 13% in 2020 to 21% in 2035. The proportion of girls affected is expected to increase from 8% in 2020 to 14% in 2035.

Among adults in the European region, the proportion of men affected by obesity is expected to increase from 26% in 2020 to 39% in 2035. The proportion of women affected is expected to increase from 28% in 2020 to 35% in 2035.

The economic impact in this region is predicted to jump from around €486 billion annually in 2020 to almost €761 billion annually in 2035.

However, lower income countries appear to be most at risk. Of the 10 countries with the greatest expected increases in obesity, nine of these are low or lower-middle income countries. All are located in Asia or Africa.

The World Obesity Federation is calling on countries to develop and implement comprehensive national action plans to tackle this serious public health issue.

“Governments and policymakers around the world need to do all they can to avoid passing health, social and economic costs on to the younger generation. That means looking urgently at the systems and root factors that contribute to obesity and actively involving young people in the solutions. If we act together now, we have the opportunity to help billions of people in the future,” commented the federation’s president, Prof Louise Baur.

Meanwhile, according to the federation’s CEO, Johanna Ralston, the economic impact of obesity “is not the fault of individuals living with the disease”.

“It is a result of high level failures to provide the environmental, healthcare, food and support systems that we all need to live happy, healthy lives. Addressing these issues will be valuable in so many ways to billions of people. We simply cannot afford to ignore the rising rates of obesity any longer,” she commented.

The World Obesity Atlas 2023 can be viewed here.