Global research project reveals 30% of the world’s population affected by weight problems

A new study has found that globally more than 2 billion children and adults suffer from health problems related to being overweight or obese.

In 2015, of the 4 million deaths attributed to excess weight, nearly 40% occurred in people who had a body mass index that fell below the threshold considered ‘obese’.

According to authors of the paper in The New England Journal of Medicine, the findings represent “a growing and disturbing public health crisis”.

Excess weight affected 2.2 billion children and adults worldwide in 2015, or 30% of all people. This includes nearly 108 million children and more than 600 million adults with BMI exceeding 30, the threshold for obesity, according to the study. The prevalence of obesity has doubled since 1980 in more than 70 countries and has continuously increased in most other nations.

“Excess body weight is one of the most challenging public health problems of our time, affecting nearly one in every three people,” said Dr. Ashkan Afshin, the paper’s lead author.