More than half of all adults and a third of children, teenagers and young adults around the world are predicted to be overweight or obese by 2050. The findings come in a new study of global data published in The Lancet journal, covering more than 200 countries.
By 2021, almost half the global adult population – a billion men and 1.11 billion women aged 25 or older – were overweight or obese. The proportion of both men and women living with these conditions has doubled since 1990. If trends continue, global rates of overweight and obese adults would rise to about 57.4% for men and 60.3% for women by 2050.
In terms of raw numbers, China (627 million), India (450 million) and the USA (214 million) will be the countries with the biggest populations of overweight or obese people in 2050.
Value savings life years lost due to obesity is now projected to rise by 20% to 144 million
The authors acknowledge the study does not take into account the impact that new weight loss medications might have. The research was led by Prof Emmanuela Gakidou, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, at the University of Washington in the US.
Experts say if governments take urgent action now, there is still time to prevent what could be a disaster for vulnerable healthcare systems.
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