March 4, 2024 is World Obesity Day. This year’s Obesity Atlas, published by the World Obesity Federation, reveals that “No area of the world is unaffected by the consequences of Obesity,” and that: “Rising rates of obesity rates across the world reveal massive gaps in healthcare and nutrition, with poorest populations most adversely affected.” The World Obesity Federation, formerly called the International Association for the Study of Obesity and the International Task Force, is the only global organization focused exclusively on obesity. World Obesity Day 2024 sees the publication of the sixth World Obesity Atlas.
The Global Obesity Atlas 2024 covers:
Obesity and its consequences
• Global, regional, and national estimates of the contribution of obesity to leading non-communicable diseases in adults
• Global, regional and national predictions of the effects of obesity on children’s higher risk of non-communicable diseases
• 186 national scorecards for child and adult obesity and its consequences
“The new 2024 Atlas underscores how factors driving economic development are contributing to obesity trends. Shockingly, of the global deaths attributed to high Body Mass Index (BMI), the population measure of obesity, 78% occur among adults in LMICs, eclipsing the 22% in high-income nations. Similarly, 80% of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) are attributed to high BMI burden adults in LMICs, compared to a mere 20% in high-income countries.”
“It’s a common misconception that obesity – and its myriad health implications – are only limited to certain countries in the Global North,’ said Kent Buse, Director of the Healthier Societies Program at the George Institute for Global Health. “But the barriers to healthy and affordable foods, to active transport and much-needed medical support are not limited to what people likely consider to be ‘rich’ countries, and governments all over the world need to implement policies that help communities gain access to healthy food and responsive health systems now. The projections in the Global Atlas make very clear what the alternative is and it is a frightening prospect.”
Some key statistics include:
- 79% of adults with overweight and obesity will live in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) by 2035.
- 88% of children with overweight and obesity will be living in LMICs by 2035.
- It is projected that the number of adults living with obesity will rise from 0.81 billion in 2020 to 1.53 billion in 2035.
Reference
World Obesity Federation. Obesity Atlas 2024. England; World Obesity Federation. March 1, 2024. Available at: https://data.worldobesity.org/publications/WOF-Obesity-Atlas-v6.pdf
Related Publications
NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults. The Lancet. February 29, 2024 (published online ahead of print). Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673623027502
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). One in eight people are now living with obesity. March 1, 2024. Available at: https://www.paho.org/en/news/1-3-2024-one-eight-people-are-now-living-obesity
Sustainable RDN 