According to a new report, over 50 percent of the world’s population is going to be obese or overweight by 2035. Read to know more about it.
Obesity and overweight future?
As per the World Obesity Federation‘s 2023 atlas, about 51 percent of the world will be overweight or obese within the next 12 years. It found that the rate was rising alarmingly among children and in nations with lower income. Moreover, childhood obesity could double from 2020 levels, affecting 175 million girls and 208 million boys by 2035.
Louise Baur, the federation’s president called for action, describing the findings as a “clear warning”. “It is particularly worrying to see obesity rates rising fastest among children and adolescents. 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,” stated Baur.
More on the report
The 2023 atlas on overweight and obesity was created keeping the body mass index (BMI) in mind. BMI is calculated by “dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by their height in meters squared”. As per the World Health organization’s metrics, a BMI over 25 makes a person overweight. People with a BMI of 30 or more are obese. As of 2020, 2.6 billion people i.e., 38 percent of the world population are obese.
Additionally, the report found all nations expected to see a great rise in the issue are middle or low-income nations in Asia and Africa. These health conditions can also lead to a greater cost for society. The federation believes it to be as much as $4 trillion annually. However, the authors are not blaming individuals for this. Instead, they believe in environmental, societal, and biological factors are involved.