“In the past, we’ve been thinking about obesity as a problem of the rich. The island nations of Tonga, American Samoa and Nauru had the highest prevalence of obesity in 2022, with more than 60% of the adult population living with the condition, according to the analysis. These countries now have higher obesity rates than those of many wealthy industrialized countries, according to the analysis. This transition has been most evident in low-income and middle-income countries, particularly in Polynesia and Micronesia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa. Obesity rates are now higher than rates of underweight in two-thirds of the world’s countries, according to the analysis. While obesity rates increased, the number of people affected by underweight fell in most countries. “It is very concerning that the epidemic of obesity that was evident among adults in much of the world in 1990 is now mirrored in school-aged children and adolescents,” Ezzati said in a news release. Related article Doctors should intervene to help children with obesity, task force draft says, but it doesn’t recommend surgery or meds (add caption) PhotoAlto/Ale Ventura/Getty Images Obesity rates among children and adolescents worldwide increased fourfold from 1990 to 2022, while obesity rates among adults more than doubled. The analysis estimates that nearly 880 million adults and 159 million children lived with obesity in 2022. Francesco Branca, director of the WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, said in the news conference.
“Undernutrition and obesity are two faces of the same problem, which is the lack of access to a healthy diet,” Dr. Children and adolescents were defined as obese or underweight based on age and sex criteria by age, according to the study. Adults were classified as obese if their body mass index (BMI) was greater than or equal to 30 and classified as underweight if their BMI was below 18.5. The analysis focused on rates of underweight and obesity, both forms of malnutrition that are detrimental to people’s health. The new global analysis, conducted by more than 1,500 researchers from the Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Collaboration and the World Health Organization, analyzed the height and weight measurements of over 220 million people from more than 190 countries. “We’ve really been taken aback by how fast things have happened,” he said. Related article More than half of the world will be overweight or obese by 2035, report predicts
CARDIFF, WALES - NOVEMBER 27: An overweight man sits on a bench on Novemin Cardiff, Wales.