Obesity

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese. In 2019, an estimated 5 million noncommunicable disease (NCD) deaths were caused by higher-than-optimal BMI.

Rates of overweight and obesity continue to grow in adults and children. From 1990 to 2022, the percentage of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years living with obesity increased four-fold from 2% to 8% globally, while the percentage of adults 18 years of age and older living with obesity more than doubled from 7% to 16%.

Obesity is one side of the double burden of malnutrition, and today more people are obese than underweight in every region except the South-East Asia Region. Once considered a problem only in high-income countries, today some middle-income countries have among the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide.