LOSING THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE
HOW THE UK BECAME THE MOST OBESE COUNTRY IN WESTERN EUROPE
Awhopping 27 in every 100 adults in the UK are obese - making us the most overweight country in Western Europe.
As recently as 1980 just seven in 100 people here were classed as obese, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
That means that as a country we have become 300% more obese in just 37 years. To be classed as clinically obese, a person must have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above. Those with a healthy weight will typically have a BMI of between 18.5 and 25, while overweight people have a BMI between 25 and 30. The OECD ranks the UK as the sixth fattest nation out of the 22 countries for which it provides statistics. Top of the chart is America, where nearly 40 in every 100 adults are clinically obese. This means the average American is nine times more likely to be obese than the average person from Japan.
The OECD says that around 22.6% adults across the 22 countries are obese, making the UK’s obesity levels significantly higher than average.
Other than America, countries more obese than the UK include Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and Hungary.
Those with the fewest amount of obese adults include South Korea, Japan and Slovakia.
Steven Ward, chief executive of health body UK Active, said: “The crux is that as a nation we move less and eat more unhealthily than ever before.
“Physical inactivity, coupled with poor diets, has created a perfect storm for obesity in the UK.
“Japan combines a healthy natural diet with a government willing to take proactive steps to promote healthy lifestyles and there are definitely lessons we can learn from this.”
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: “Most countries are facing rising levels of obesity, putting pressure on health and social care systems.
“While England has the worst rates of adult obesity in western Europe, our plans to tackle this are amongst the most ambitious. “We’re working with industry to make food healthier, we’ve produced guidance for councils on planning healthier towns and we’re delivering campaigns encouraging people to choose healthier food and lead healthier lives. It’s taken many years for us to reach this point and change will not happen overnight.”