A new report from the World Obesity Federation warns that without significant action, more than half of the world’s population, or over 4 billion people, will be obese or overweight by 2035.
The report highlights that rates of obesity are rising quickly among children and in lower-income countries. The report calls on policymakers to act urgently to prevent the situation from worsening and avoid passing health, social, and economic costs onto future generations.
The cost to society is significant, with health conditions linked to being overweight expected to cost more than $4 trillion annually by 2035, or 3% of global GDP.
The report also identifies almost all of the countries expected to see the greatest increases in obesity in the coming years as low or middle-income countries in Asia and Africa.
