2.1 billion of the world’s population now overweight: China and US top fat list
China has the fourth-greatest increase in childhood obesity
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 29 May, 2014, 11:46am
UPDATED : Thursday, 29 May, 2014, 6:33pm
Jeanette Wang [email protected]
A fat camp for overweight teenagers in Beijing. Photo: AFP
Mainland toddler Lu Zhihao, who weighed 62kg at the age of four, was for years dubbed the world's heaviest child. One of the Lancet study's authors says childhood obesity is a big concern. Photo: Reuters
China boasts the second-largest population of obese people in the world behind only the United States, according to a pioneering study published in a leading international medical journal today.
Globally, there are 2.1 billion people classified as overweight or obese. Of the total figure, 671 million were classified as obese, according to the report in The Lancet.
Overweight means a person has a body mass index - which factors in weight in relation to height - of 25 to less than 30. With a BMI of 30 or more, a person is classified as obese.
More than half of the world’s obese population live in 10 countries, led by the United States with 86.9 million.
Not to be outweighed, there were 62 million obese people in China last year, or more than 9 per cent of the world's obese.
Conducted by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the study, which is the first of its kind, analysed data from 188 countries over 33 years and found that nearly 30 per cent (2.1 billion) of the world’s population were either overweight or obese last year, up from 857 million people in 1980.
Over the same period, overweight and obesity rates among adults have increased for both men (to 37 per cent from 29 per cent) and women (to 38 per cent from 30 per cent).
Liang Yong, in his 30s, who weighs about 230 kg, at a Chongqing hospital. He made headlines last year after he had to seek intensive treatment for long-time obesity. Photo: Reuters
Lead study author Dr Marie Ng, assistant professor of global health at IHME, who had previously worked at Hong Kong University, told the South China Morning Post that although the overall prevalence of overweight and obesity in China is relatively low compared to other countries, the absolute figure is “alarming” in terms of the consequent financial burden on the health system.
"Childhood obesity in China is another issue that really needs attention,” Ng said by phone from Seattle. “The proportion of obese boys, in particular, is almost double the proportion of obese men [at 6.9 and 3.8 per cent respectively].”
Among the 188 countries, China had the fourth-greatest increase in overweight/obesity prevalence among children during the study period. In 1980, 5.7 per cent of people under 20 years old were overweight or obese; last year, it was 18.8 per cent.For adults (20 years and above), China had the 10th biggest absolute change in overweight/obesity prevalence, rising 16.6 percentage points from 11.3 per cent in 1980 to 27.9 per cent last year.
“Obesity is an issue affecting people of all ages and incomes, everywhere,” said Dr Christopher Murray, director of IHME and a co-founder of the Global Burden of Disease study.
A woman walks by a sign advertising sugary drinks in a Brooklyn, New York City neighborhood that had a high rate of obesity and diabetes. Photo: AFP
“In the last three decades, not one country has achieved success in reducing obesity rates, and we expect obesity to rise steadily as incomes rise in low- and middle-income countries in particular, unless urgent steps are taken to address this public health crisis.”
Body mass index is calculated by taking one’s weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared.
The highest overweight and obesity rates were seen in the Middle East and North Africa (see table below), where more than 58 per cent of men and 65 per cent of women aged 20 or older were found to be either overweight or obese. Among children and adolescents, the prevalence of overweight or obesity increased by nearly 50 per cent between 1980 and last year.
Last year, more than 22 per cent of girls and nearly 24 per cent of boys in developed countries were found to be overweight or obese. In the developing world, the figures for both boys and girls were around 13 per cent. In developed countries, the peak of obesity rates is moving to younger ages.
A government official in the West Bank bites into a burger for lunch. The Middle East and North Africa had the highest rates of adult overweight and obesity. Photo: Reuters
The rise in global obesity rates over the last three decades has been substantial and widespread, presenting a major public health epidemic in both the developed and the developing world.Health risks such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and chronic kidney disease increase when a person’s BMI exceeds 23.
In 2010, overweight and obesity were estimated to have caused 3.4 million deaths, most of which were from cardiovascular causes.There is, perhaps, a little ray of hope.
The study found that in developed countries, increases in obesity that began in the 1980s and accelerated from 1992 to 2002 have slowed since 2006.
Top 10 countries with highest obesity and overweight rates in adults older than 20:
1. Tonga
2. Samoa
3. Kiribati
4. Kuwait
5. Qatar
6. Marshall Islands
7. Egypt
8. Micronesia
9. Libya
10. Jordan
- Associated Press
