Obesity
A global health issue
Obesity:
a global
health issue
Geography
of obesity
What is obesity?
• Obesity is abnormal or excessive
fat accumulation that can impair
health
• Obesity exists when a person has
a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or
more
• It is considered a medical
condition in most of the world, but
in 2013 the American Medical
Association reclassified obesity as
a disease
BMI is a function of both
weight and height
Obesity:
a global
health issue
Geography
of obesity
Impacts on health
Obesity is important because it has
significant health impacts:
• It increases the risk of developing
non-communicable diseases
• It reduces life expectancy
• It has a economic consequences
for health provision as the costs of
managing obesity rise
Obesity:
a global
health issue
Geography
of obesity
Global patterns
• Obesity varies between countries,
from 3.5% of men
overweight/obese in Eritrea in 2010
to 97% on the Pacific island of
Nauru.
• However, in almost every type of
country and region it is rising (see
table).
• In some countries, such as China,
the increase in overweight/obesity
is startling in a short time frame.
• In others, such as the USA, UK and
Mexico prevalence rates are very
high.
% males
overweight/obes
e
(WHO data)
2002
2005
2010
Afghanistan
11.2
12.7
15.6
Argentina
70.1
73.1
77.7
Australia
69.7
72.1
75.7
Bangladesh
5.9
6.7
8.4
China
27.5
33.1
45
Ethiopia
7.4
7.8
8.6
UK
62.5
65.7
67.8
Haiti
13
15.1
19
India
15
16.8
20.1
Kenya
6.5
6.9
7.7
Mexico
64.6
68.4
73.6
USA
72.2
75.6
80.5
Obesity:
a global
health issue
Geography
of obesity
Global patterns
• Obesity is highest in North
America, North Africa and the
Middle East, and many Pacific
islands.
• South Africa and Venezuela are
also ‘hotspots’.
• Levels in Europe and Latin
America are similar — despite
differences in levels of
development.
• As might be expected, subSaharan Africa and Asia have the
lowest prevalence, although some
of the fastest growth rates.
Obesity:
a global
health issue
Geography
of obesity
Development level and obesity
• Although there is some evidence of
a ‘North–South divide’ in obesity,
the pattern is complex.
• As the scattergraph shows, wealthy
countries such as the Netherlands,
Canada and the USA have different
levels of overweight/obese males.
• Lower-income countries such as
Egypt, Samoa and Mexico have
levels equal to or even higher than
those in developed countries.
Obesity:
a global
health issue
Geography
of obesity
Explanations of obesity are complex:
•On many Pacific islands the abandonment of traditional
farming and fishing has given way to a reliance on imported
processed meat. Girth is seen as a signof social and economic
status.
•In Europe and North America, a high-fat, processed and
fast-food diet has combined with increasingly sedentary office
jobs and lifestyles.
•In much of developing Asia and Latin America the
nutrition transition and rural–urban migration have
combined to increase fat, sugar and protein in diets at the
expense of cereals and vegetable fibre. In cities people labour
at desks and workstations rather than in the fields.
•In the Middle East oil-rich states, wealthy people have
domestic servants so do very little in the way of household
chores.
Explanations
Increased car use
Fast food
Larger portions
Cultural appreciation
of plumpness
Sedentary lifestyles
TV and video games
Urbanisation
Decline
in farm employment
Processed food
Poor education
Food marketing
Obesity:
a global
health issue
Geography
of obesity
The ‘globesity’ crisis
• The World Health Organization
(WHO) has referred to a ‘global
obesity epidemic’ and the world’s
• Obesity was recognised as a global
epidemic by the WHO in 1997.
media to a‘globesity crisis’
• Over 1.5 billion people worldwide
• The crisis is worst in middle-
are currently overweight and 500
income developing countries,
like Mexico
• Obesity levels are high but so are
infectious diseases
• This is a ‘doubleburden’ on the
healthcare system.
million are obese.
• The WHO projects that by 2015,
2.3 billion adults will be overweight
and more than 700 million will be
obese.
• About 60% of obese people are
women and 40% are men.