Obesity rates among children and adolescents worldwide increased four times from 1990 to 2022. Among adults, the obesity rate more than doubled in women and nearly tripled in men. In total, 159 million children and adolescents and 879 million adults were living with obesity in 2022.
Analysis suggests that in India, the obesity rate increased from 0.1% in 1990 to 3.1% in 2022 for girls and 0.1% to 3.9% in 2022 for boys. The prevalence of obesity in India ranked 27th lowest (174th highest) in the world for both girls and boys in 2022.
Countries with the highest prevalence of underweight in 2022 were India and Sri Lanka for girls and Niger and India for boys, where as more than 15% of the child and adolescent population were living with obesity.
According to the Lancet, in the UK, the obesity rate increased from 13.8% in 1990 to 28.3% in 2022 for women and 10.7% to 26.9% in 2022 for men. In the USA, the obesity rate increased from 21.2% in 1990 to 43.8% in 2022 for women and 16.9% to 41.6% in 2022 for men. In China, the obesity rate increased from 2.0% in 1990 to 7.8% in 2022 for women and 0.8% to 8.9% in 2022 for men.
In India, the obesity rate increased from 1.2% in 1990 to 9.8% in 2022 for women and 0.5% to 5.4% in 2022 for men. While the the underweight rate decreased from 41.7% in 1990 to 13.7% in 2022 for women and 39.8% to 12.5% in 2022 for men.Countries with the highest combined rates of underweight and obesity in 2022 were island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean and countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The study highlights an urgent need for major changes to measures aimed at tackling obesity, as well as policies to further reduce the number of people who are underweight, especially in the poorest parts of the world.
Between 1990 and 2022, the proportion of the world’s children and adolescents who were affected by underweight fell by around one fifth in girls and more than one third in boys.
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