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Facts about overweight and obesity

Some recent WHO global estimates follow.

In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults aged 18 years and older were overweight. Of these over 650 million adults were obese.

In 2016, 39% of adults aged 18 years and over (39% of men and 40% of women) were overweight.

Overall, about 13% of the world’s adult population (11% of men and 15% of women) were obese in 2016.

The worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016.

In 2016, an estimated 41 million children under the age of 5 years were overweight or obese. Once considered a high-income country problem, overweight and obesity are now on the rise in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings. In Africa, the number of overweight children under 5 has increased by nearly 50 per cent since 2000. Nearly half of the children under 5 who were overweight or obese in 2016 lived in Asia.

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What are overweight and obesity?

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.

Body mass index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify overweight and obesity in adults. It is defined as a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m²).

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Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.

In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese.

39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese.

Most of the world's population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.

41 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2016.

Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.

Obesity is preventable.