One in eight people in the world is obese according to the latest figures from the WHO.
More than a billion humans are now affected by obesity either one in eight people in the world. And it’s a real record. On the occasion of anti-obesity day on March 4, a study published in the British medical journal The Lancet alert on the rate of obesity in the world. The study is based on data from 220 million people in 190 different countries. It shows that the global obesity rate has quadrupled between 1990 and 2022 among children and adolescents and doubled among adults. 195 million adults were obese in 1990 compared to 880 million 32 years later. By adding children and adolescents, the figure reaches a billion people with six years ahead of forecast since scientists estimated that this figure would be reached in 2030. “The epidemic “progressed” more quickly than anticipated” confirms Professor Francesco Branca, director of the “Nutrition for health and development” department of the WHO.
The islands most affected by obesity
The most surprising: obesity is affecting more and more countries or territories with low or middle incomes such as Polynesia and Micronesia, the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa. These regions of the world now have higher obesity rates than many industrialized countries, including Europe. “In the past we tended to think of obesity as a problem of rich countries, now it is a global problem. Now, in most countries, more people are affected by obesity as much as by being underweight (underweight)” specifies Francesco Branca. And the country with the most obese people is in the Pacific. This is the Samoa archipelago. This state is divided into two parts: on the one hand Western Samoa and on the other hand American Samoa. It is the inhabitants of American Samoa who are most affected by obesity, both men and women. American Samoa is closely followed by the island nations of Tonga for women and Nauru for men, states also located in Polynesia and Micronesia. This result is not surprising since these three countries have been competing for first place since 1990, according to the study data.
Already in 2018, scientists demonstrated that the increase in obesity was particularly strong in the Pacific Islands. In Nauru, which was then the most overweight country in the world, BMI average reached the record level of 35.03 among women and 33.85 among men, well above the obesity threshold generally considered to be 30. The Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Tonga, Samoa and Palau were already not far behind. What about Europe? According to Professor Majid Ezzati, one of the main authors of the study, obesity shows “signs of decline in certain southern European countries, especially for women, with Spain and France being the notable examples.