Greece has the highest proportion of obese boys in Europe (16.7% of the population), while Malta has the most obese girls (11.3%), according to a new international study published in the medical journal “The Lancet” , on occasion of World Obesity Day on 11 October.
Moldova has the smallest obesity rates in Europe (3.2% of the population) and 5% in boys .
The research, involving more than 1,000 researchers, which analysed data from 200 countries, estimates that in 2016 there were 124 million children and adolescents worldwide who were obese, while another 213 million were overweight.
Adult obesity increased from about 100 million in 1975 (69 million women and 31 million men) to 671 million in 2016 (390 million women and 281 million men).
Since 1975, the number of obese children and adolescents (aged five to 19) in the world has more than doubled and it is estimated that by 2022, obese children and adolescents will exceed the underweight for the first time.
The highest rates of childhood and adolescent obesity (over 30%) are recorded in the Polynesian Islands in the Pacific, while close to 20% or more in the US, in several Arab countries (Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, etc). ) and in the Caribbean (Bermuda, Puerto Rico, etc.).
Most underweight children (lower body mass index in 2016) live in Ethiopia, Niger, Senegal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia.