Nearly 900 million people worldwide will be affected by obesity in 2022
A global estimate of the prevalence of body weight disorders, both obesity and underweight, showed that between 1990 and 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries for women and 17 for men. However, it increased in 162 countries for women and 140 countries for men over the same period. In 2022, the number of obese women is 504 million and 374 million for men. The report is published in The Lancet.
Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes across the lifespan. Both conditions require public health awareness and prevention measures, including the World Health Organization. In doing so, it is important to be aware of the ever-changing trends in underweight and obesity across countries and age groups. In addition, the prevalence rates of underweight and obesity vary independently in some regions. The last assessment of these rates was conducted in 2016.
The NCD Risk Factor Collaboration estimated the prevalence of underweight and obesity (together and separately) by analyzing 3,663 population-based studies involving 222 million participants who were measured for height and weight in representative samples of the population. From these data, the scientists calculated the prevalence of the disorders and the corresponding number of people who suffer from them. From 1990 to 2022, the age-standardized prevalence of adult underweight decreased in 129 countries for women and 149 for men (hereafter, the posterior probability that the observed changes were true was at least 0.80). However, the only groups in which there was an epidemiologically significant increase in the prevalence of underweight were women in Japan and South Korea.
The age-standardized prevalence of adult obesity increased from 1990 to 2022 in 188 countries for women and in all but one country for men. The largest increases were observed in some sub-Saharan African countries for women and in the USA, Brunei and some Central European countries, and Polynesia and Micronesia for men. Some countries in the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa saw increases for both sexes. In 2022, the prevalence of obesity was less than five percent for women in six countries (Viet Nam, East Timor, Japan, Burundi, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Viet Nam) and for men in 17 countries in South and South-East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. However, the prevalence of obesity exceeded 60 per cent among women in eight countries and men in six countries. The net effect of changes in underweight and obesity in adults was that their combined age-standardized prevalence decreased in 11 countries for women and 17 countries for men and increased in 162 countries for women and 140 countries for men.
The global age-standardized prevalence of underweight among adults decreased from 14.5 percent in 1990 to 7 percent in 2022 for women and from 13.7 percent to 6.2 percent for men. Thus, 183 million women and 164 million men were underweight in 2022. The countries with the highest number of underweight adults in 2022 were India, China, Japan (women only), Indonesia, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. The number of obese women and men in 2022 was 504 million and 374 million, respectively, an increase of 377 million and 307 million since 1990. The countries with the highest absolute numbers of obese adults in 2022 were the USA, China and India.
In 1990, India had the highest age-standardized prevalence of the dual burden of underweight and obesity among school-age children and adolescents, 27.4 per cent for girls and 45.3 per cent for boys. Meanwhile, from 1990 to 2022, the age-standardized prevalence of thinness declined for girls in 44 countries and boys in 80 countries, with the largest decline in South Africa. Over the same period, the age-standardized prevalence of obesity increased in girls in 186 countries and in boys in 195 countries. In most countries, obesity rates more than doubled.
The global age-standardized prevalence of underweight among school-age children and adolescents decreased from 10.3 per cent in 1990 to 8.2 per cent in 2022 for girls and from 16.7 per cent to 10.8 per cent for boys. A total of 77 million girls and 108 million boys were underweight in 2022. Meanwhile, the global age-standardized prevalence of obesity among school-age children and adolescents increased from 1.7 per cent in 1990 to 6.9 per cent in 2022 for girls and from 2.1 per cent to 9.3 per cent for boys. The number of obese girls and boys in 2022 was 65.1 million and 94.2 million, respectively. Obesity can be caused by a variety of factors, including genetics.