Obesity rates among children and adolescents worldwide increased four times from 1990 to 2022, while obesity rates among adults have more than doubled, a new study published in The Lancet has revealed.
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The total number of children, adolescents and adults worldwide living with obesity has surpassed one billion. In total, 159 million children and adolescents, and 879 million adults were obese in 2022.
Form of malnutrition
Along with the declining prevalence of people who are underweight since 1990, obesity has become the most common form of malnutrition in most countries, said the paper that analysed global data estimates.
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The study was conducted by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Over 1,500 researchers in more than 190 countries analysed weight and height measurements of over 220 million people aged five years or older. They reportedly looked at body mass index (BMI) to understand how obesity and underweight have changed worldwide from 1990 to 2022.
Representatives from the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation were among the co-authors of the study in India. V. Mohan, Anjana Ranjit and Guha Pradeepa, who were also instrumental in the countrywide INdiab study, were co-authors.
Coexisting conditions
Dr. Mohan said that in India, both obesity and underweight continue to co-exist. “We have also seen, as part of the INdiab study that both abdominal obesity and generalised obesity are increasing in the population, with of course variations in rural areas.”
As per The Lancet paper, in India, the obesity rate increased from 0.1% in 1990 to 3.1% in 2022 for girls, and 0.1% to 3.9%, for boys.
In the prevalence of obesity category for girls and boys, India ranked 174th highest in the world in 2022. Among adults, the change was starker: in women, the obesity rate increased from 1.2% in 1990 to 9.8% in 2022 and in men from 0.5% to 5.4%.