The number of people suffering from obesity has more than doubled since 1990, according to a new study published in the Lancet medical magazine. According to their estimates, more than one billion people around the world are obese.
A so-called “epidemic”
The study, conducted in partnership with the World Health Organization, predicts that there were 1,038 million obese adults, adolescents, and children in 2022, up from 226 million in 1990.
According to a report released ahead of World Obesity Day (March 4), the “epidemic” is mainly affecting poorer countries. It was also discovered that children and teenagers are developing obesity at a faster rate than adults.
Even though doctors recognized that obesity rates were rapidly increasing, a surge of more than one billion was not projected until 2030.
According to AFP, it arrived “much earlier than we had anticipated,” according to Francesco Branca, WHO’s director of nutrition for health.
Obesity Rate
According to the Lancet, specialists analyzed the weight and height measurements of over 220 million people from over 190 nations to arrive at their figures. They discovered that around 504 million adult women, 374 million men, and 159 million children were obese in 2022.
Compared to 1990, this is a more than threefold increase for males and double for women, with a fivefold increase for children (up from 31 million).
Experts blame it on improper eating habits, claiming that “very rapid transformation of the food systems is not for the better”.
According to WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “This new study highlights the importance of preventing and managing obesity from early life to adulthood, through diet, physical activity, and adequate care, as needed.”
Obesity is a chronic and complex illness that increases the chance of death from heart disease, diabetes, and certain malignancies, as well as from coronavirus.
Which nations are most affected by obesity?
“In the past, we have tended to think of obesity as a problem of the rich, now it is a problem of the world,” said Branca.
The survey discovered that countries in Polynesia and Micronesia, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North Africa have suffered more from the rise in obesity.