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The World Obesity Federation's 2023 atlas predicts that 51% of the
world, or more than 4 billion people, will be obese or overweight
within the next 12 years.
Rates of obesity are rising particularly quickly among children and
in lower income countries, the report found.
Describing the data as a "clear warning", Louise Baur, president of
the World Obesity Federation, said that policymakers needed to act
now to prevent the situation worsening.
"It is particularly worrying to see obesity rates rising fastest
among children and adolescents," she said in a statement.
"Governments and policymakers around the world need to do all they
can to avoid passing health, social and economic costs on to the
younger generation."
The report found that childhood obesity could more than double from
2020 levels, to 208 million boys and 175 million girls by 2035.
The cost to society is significant as a result of the health
conditions linked to being overweight, the federation said: more
than $4 trillion annually by 2035, or 3% of global GDP.
However, the authors said they were not blaming individuals, but
calling for a focus on the societal, environmental and biological
factors involved in the conditions.
The report uses body mass index (BMI) for its assessments, a number
calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by their
height in metres squared. In line with the World Health
Organization's guidelines, a BMI score over 25 is overweight and
over 30 is obese.
In 2020, 2.6 billion people fell into these categories, or 38% of
the world's population.
The report also found that almost all of the countries expected to
see the greatest increases in obesity in the coming years are low or
middle-income countries in Asia and Africa.
The data will be presented to United Nations policymakers and member
states next week.
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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