Obese People Outnumber Underweight First Time In History

26 Feb 2019

According to a recent global study, the number of obese people is more than that of underweight people for the first time in history. Number of obese people have greatly increase over past couple of decades. Between 1875 and 2015, the number of obese people worldwide rose from 105 million to 641 million.

“Over the past 40 years, we have changed from a world in which underweight prevalence was more than double that of obesity, to one in which more people are obese than underweight,” said senior author of the study Majid Ezzati, PhD, from Imperial College London

The study was conducted over 19 million men and women from more than 180 countries. According to the results, 10.8% men and 14.9% women are obese globally. On the other hand, 8.8% men and 9.7% women are underweight. The average BMI mark for men and women has also increased over the years. The average BMI increase from 21.7 and 22.1 to 24.2 and 24.4 for men and women respectively.

The study also found out that average BMI fro women in some countries like Japan, Singapore, Belgium, France, Switzerland remained same over 40 years. In countries like India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Ethiopia, more than 20 percent men are underweight.

“If present trends continue, not only will the world not meet the obesity target of halting the rise in the prevalence of obesity at its 2010 level by 2025, but more women will be severely obese than underweight by 2025,” wrote Ezzati . “To avoid an epidemic of severe obesity, new policies that can slow down and stop the worldwide increase in body weight must be implemented quickly and rigorously evaluated, including smart food policies and improved health-care training.”

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