Obesity and overweight

Key info

• In 2022, 1 in 8 folks on the earth have been residing with weight problems. 
• Worldwide grownup weight problems has greater than doubled since 1990, and adolescent weight problems has quadrupled.
• In 2022, 2.5 billion adults (18 years and older) have been obese. Of those, 890 million have been residing with weight problems.
• In 2022, 43% of adults aged 18 years and over have been obese and 16% have been residing with weight problems.
• In 2024, 35 million youngsters below the age of 5 have been obese.
• Over 390 million youngsters and adolescents aged 5–19 years have been obese in 2022, together with 160 million who have been residing with weight problems.

Overview

Chubby is a situation of extreme fats deposits.

Weight problems is a persistent advanced illness outlined by extreme fats deposits that may impair well being. Weight problems can result in elevated threat of kind 2 diabetes and coronary heart illness, it may have an effect on bone well being and replica, it will increase the chance of sure cancers. Weight problems influences the standard of residing, akin to sleeping or shifting.

The prognosis of obese and weight problems is made by measuring folks’s weight and top and by calculating the physique mass index (BMI): weight (kg)/height² (m²). The physique mass index is a surrogate marker of fatness and extra measurements, such because the waist circumference, will help the prognosis of weight problems.

The BMI classes for outlining weight problems differ by age and gender in infants, youngsters and adolescents.

Adults

For adults, WHO defines obese and weight problems as follows:

• obese is a BMI larger than or equal to 25; and
• weight problems is a BMI larger than or equal to 30.

For kids, age must be thought of when defining obese and weight problems.

Kids below 5 years of age

For kids below 5 years of age:

• obese is weight-for-height larger than 2 normal deviations above WHO Little one Development Requirements median; and
• weight problems is weight-for-height larger than 3 normal deviations above the WHO Little one Development Requirements median.

Charts and tables: WHO child growth standards for children aged under 5 years

Kids aged between 5–19 years

Chubby and weight problems are outlined as follows for kids aged between 5–19 years:

• obese is BMI-for-age larger than 1 normal deviation above the WHO Development Reference median; and
• weight problems is bigger than 2 normal deviations above the WHO Development Reference median.

Charts and tables: WHO growth reference for children aged between 5–19 years

Info about obese and weight problems

In 2022, 2.5 billion adults aged 18 years and older have been obese, together with over 890 million adults who have been residing with weight problems. This corresponds to 43% of adults aged 18 years and over (43% of males and 44% of ladies) who have been obese; a rise from 1990, when 25% of adults aged 18 years and over have been obese. Prevalence of obese diverse by area, from 31% within the WHO South-East Asia Area and the African Area to 67% within the Area of the Americas.

About 16% of adults aged 18 years and older worldwide have been overweight in 2022. The worldwide prevalence of weight problems greater than doubled between 1990 and 2022.

In 2024, an estimated 35 million youngsters below the age of 5 years have been obese. As soon as thought of a high-income nation downside, obese is on the rise in low- and middle-income nations. In Africa, the variety of obese youngsters below 5 years has elevated by almost 12.1% since 2000. Virtually half of the kids below 5 years who have been obese or residing with weight problems in 2024 lived in Asia.

Over 390 million youngsters and adolescents aged 5–19 years have been obese in 2022. The prevalence of obese (together with weight problems) amongst youngsters and adolescents aged 5–19 has risen dramatically from simply 8% in 1990 to twenty% in 2022. The rise has occurred equally amongst each girls and boys: in 2022 19% of women and 21% of boys have been obese.

Whereas simply 2% of youngsters and adolescents aged 5–19 have been overweight in 1990 (31 million younger folks), by 2022, 8% of youngsters and adolescents have been residing with weight problems (160 million younger folks).

Causes of obese and weight problems

Chubby and weight problems outcome from an imbalance of vitality consumption (food plan) and vitality expenditure (bodily exercise).

Generally weight problems is a multifactorial illness on account of obesogenic environments, psycho-social elements and genetic variants. In a subgroup of sufferers, single main etiological elements could be recognized (medicines, illnesses, immobilization, iatrogenic procedures, monogenic illness/genetic syndrome).

The obesogenic surroundings exacerbating the chance of weight problems in people, populations and in several settings is said to structural elements limiting the supply of wholesome sustainable meals at domestically reasonably priced costs, lack of secure and straightforward bodily mobility into the day by day lifetime of all folks, and absence of ample authorized and regulatory surroundings.

On the similar time, the shortage of an efficient well being system response to establish extra weight achieve and fats deposition of their early phases is aggravating the development to weight problems.

Widespread well being penalties

The well being dangers brought on by obese and weight problems are more and more nicely documented and understood.

In 2021, higher-than-optimal BMI brought on an estimated 3.7 million deaths from noncommunicable illnesses (NCDs) akin to cardiovascular illnesses, diabetes, cancers, neurological issues, persistent respiratory illnesses, and digestive issues (1). 

Being obese in childhood and adolescence impacts youngsters’s and adolescents’ fast well being and is related to larger threat and earlier onset of assorted NCDs, akin to kind 2 diabetes and heart problems. Childhood and adolescent obesity have adversarial psychosocial penalties; it impacts faculty efficiency and high quality of life, compounded by stigma, discrimination and bullying. Kids with weight problems are very more likely to be adults with weight problems and are additionally at the next threat of creating NCDs in maturity.

The financial impacts of the weight problems epidemic are additionally essential. If nothing is finished, the worldwide prices of obese and weight problems are predicted to achieve US$ 3 trillion per 12 months by 2030 and greater than US$ 18 trillion by 2060 (2).

Lastly, the rise in weight problems charges in low-and middle-income nations, together with amongst decrease socio-economic teams, is quick globalizing an issue that was as soon as related solely with high-income nations.

Going through a double burden of malnutrition

Many low- and middle-income nations face a so-called double burden of malnutrition.

Whereas these nations proceed to take care of the issues of infectious illnesses and undernutrition, they’re additionally experiencing a speedy upsurge in noncommunicable illness threat elements akin to weight problems and obese.

It is not uncommon to search out undernutrition and weight problems co-existing throughout the similar nation, the identical group and the identical family.

Kids in low- and middle-income nations are extra susceptible to insufficient pre-natal, toddler, and younger little one vitamin. On the similar time, these youngsters are uncovered to high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt, energy-dense, and micronutrient-poor meals, which are usually decrease in value but in addition decrease in nutrient high quality. These dietary patterns, together with decrease ranges of bodily exercise, lead to sharp will increase in childhood weight problems whereas undernutrition points stay unsolved.

Prevention and administration

Chubby and weight problems, in addition to their associated noncommunicable illnesses, are largely preventable and manageable.

On the particular person degree, folks might be able to scale back their threat by adopting preventive interventions at every step of the life cycle, ranging from pre-conception and persevering with throughout the early years. These embrace:

• guarantee applicable weight achieve throughout being pregnant;
• follow unique breastfeeding within the first 6 months after beginning and continued breastfeeding till 24 months or past;
• help behaviours of youngsters round wholesome consuming, bodily exercise, sedentary behaviours and sleep, no matter present weight standing;
• restrict display screen time;
• restrict consumption of sugar sweetened drinks and energy-dense meals and promote different wholesome consuming behaviours;
• take pleasure in a wholesome life (nutritious diet, bodily exercise, sleep length and high quality, keep away from tobacco and alcohol, emotional self-regulation);
• restrict vitality consumption from complete fat and sugars and enhance consumption of fruit and greens, in addition to legumes, complete grains and nuts; and
• have interaction in common bodily exercise.

Well being practitioners have to

• assess the load and top of individuals accessing the well being services;
• present counselling on nutritious diet and existence;
• when a prognosis of weight problems is established, present built-in weight problems prevention and administration well being providers together with on nutritious diet, bodily exercise and medical and surgical measures; and
• monitor different NCD threat elements (blood glucose, lipids and blood strain) and assess the presence of comorbidities and incapacity, together with psychological well being issues.

The dietary and bodily exercise patterns for particular person individuals are largely the results of environmental and societal situations that drastically constrain private alternative. Weight problems is a societal quite than a person accountability, with the options to be discovered by the creation of supportive environments and communities that embed wholesome diets and common bodily exercise as essentially the most accessible, obtainable and reasonably priced behaviours of day by day life.

Stopping the rise in weight problems calls for multisectoral actions akin to meals manufacturing, advertising and pricing and others that search to handle the broader determinants of well being (akin to poverty discount and concrete planning).

Such insurance policies and actions embrace:

• structural, fiscal and regulatory actions aimed toward creating wholesome meals environments that make more healthy meals choices obtainable, accessible and fascinating; and
• well being sector responses designed and geared up to establish threat, stop, deal with and handle the illness. These actions have to construct upon and be built-in into broader efforts to handle NCDs and strengthen well being methods by a major well being care method.

The meals business can play a big position in selling wholesome diets by:

• lowering the fats, sugar and salt content material of processed meals;
• guaranteeing that wholesome and nutritious selections can be found and reasonably priced to all customers;
• limiting advertising of meals excessive in sugars, salt and fat, particularly these meals aimed toward youngsters and youngsters; and
• guaranteeing the supply of wholesome meals selections and supporting common bodily exercise follow within the office.

WHO response

WHO has acknowledged the necessity to deal with the worldwide weight problems disaster in an pressing method for many years.

The World Well being Meeting Global Nutrition Targets aiming to make sure no enhance in childhood obese, and the NCD target to halt the rise of diabetes and weight problems by 2025, have been endorsed by WHO Member States. They acknowledged that accelerated international motion is required to handle pervasive and corrosive downside of the double burden of malnutrition.

On the 75^th World Well being Meeting in 2022, Member States demanded and adopted new suggestions for the prevention and administration of weight problems and endorsed the WHO Acceleration plan to stop obesity. Since its endorsement, the Acceleration plan has formed the political surroundings to generate impetus wanted for sustainable change, created a platform to form, streamline and prioritize coverage, help implementation in nations and drive impression and strengthen accountability at nationwide and international degree.