The Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity In Adults and Children, The facts

Diet | Exercise | Fitness

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

I came across a great research article this week which had examined thousands of research papers and reports looking at the prevalence of overweight and obesity in adults and children. Some of the facts I came across were shocking:

  • From 1980 to 2013 the proportion of adults with a BMI greater than 25 rose from 28.8% to 36.9% in men and 29.8% to 38% in women.
  • In 2010 overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3.4  millions deaths, and result in an average a loss of 4% of lifetime years, and increased disability adjusted life years by 4%.
  • The number of overweight and obese individuals increased from 857 million in 1980 to 2.1 billion in 2013
  • The prevalence of overweight and obesity is also rising in children and adolescents in developing countries, increasing from 8·1% in 1980, to 12·9% in 2013 for boys and 8·4% to 13·4% in girls.
  • Trends in prevalence of adult age standardised obesity in developed and developing countries showed that they seemed to be gaining weight at all ages, including childhood and adolescence, with most rapid gains between the ages of 20 and 40 years.
  • No countries had significant decreases in obesity in the past 33 years.
  • Unlike other major global risks such as tobacco and childhood malnutrition, obesity is not decreasing worldwide.

Member states of World Health Organisation in 2013 introduced a target to stop the rise in obesity by 2025. Despite this, no countries have well documented downward trends in the past three decades. The researchers believe that the target is ambitious and unlikely to be achieved and the current trend would suggest this is true. So next time you go for that burger with chips and a milkshake try to remember some of these facts, the cost of more and more people becoming overweight will eventually become a finical burden that cannot be carried in addition to leading to disabilities, illnesses which may result in an earlier grave than if you were a healthy weight.