Lancet

1 in 8 people worldwide has obesity

March 4, 2024

New research published in The Lancet finds that more than 1 billion people globally in 2022 were living with obesity, a rate that has doubled since 1990 and quadrupled among children and adolescents.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the study highlights the importance of managing and preventing obesity starting in early life through adulthood.

Key takeaways:

• Researchers estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories.
• They included data from 3,663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population.
• From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men. Researchers noted that both underweight conditions and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes.
• In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
• Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men.
• From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%).
• The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined.
• In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively.

Sources:

NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. (2024, February 29). The Lancet. Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02750-2/fulltext

Irwin, Lauren. (2024, March 1). The Hill. 1 in 8 worldwide qualify as obese: Research. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4500511-1-in-8-worldwide-obese/