This is a list of countries ranked by the proportion of the population that is obese. The data is from The World Factbook, produced by the Central Intelligence Agency, which provides the adult obesity prevalence rate, defined as the percentage of a country's population that is considered obese. The most obese countries in general are in the Pacific. Depending on how Turkey is considered, there are 1 or 0 countries in Europe on the list.
The thinnest countries are all in Asia, including Vietnam at the bottom of the list. Bangladesh, India and Japan are also among the thinnest. As mentioned above, topping the list of the world's most obese countries are small Pacific island nations such as Nauru, Palau and Tuvalu, to name a few. American readers will be familiar, as the United States has the highest obesity rate among developed countries.
So let's take a look at the countries where obesity is a major threat to the country's life expectancy. About three-quarters of the population in these countries is overweight and more than one-third is considered obese. While it is easy to assume that the easy availability of rich, decadent foods in the world's richest and most developed countries would make them the most obese, this is not always the case. We tell you that the Middle East has a strong presence on the list of the world's most obese countries, with Libya having an obesity rate of 32.5%.
It may be one of the richest countries in the Middle East, but there is an income disparity in the country, which partly explains the country's 35.4 per cent obesity rate. In low-income countries - especially in sub-Saharan Africa - obesity accounts for less than 5 per cent of deaths. There is no direct correlation between a country's obesity rate and its economic situation; however, richer countries tend to have more resources to implement programmes, campaigns and initiatives to raise awareness and educate people about what they consume. Bahrain is one of several countries in the Middle East facing an obesity epidemic, with an obesity rate of 29.8%, demonstrating that having a high standard of living also carries a risk of obesity if not done correctly.
Obesity mortality rates give us an accurate comparison of the differences in their mortality impacts between countries and over time. Obesity is one of the world's biggest health problems, having moved from being a problem of rich countries to one that spans all income levels. For a full list of the world's countries and their obesity rates and average BMI, see the table below. This is probably because the prevalence of obesity is high, but health and health systems are poorer compared to high-income countries with similarly high levels of obesity.
