Statistics on obesity

Did you know that worldwide more people died from obesity than from being underweight. Fewer people are dying from starvation—we are killing ourselves from overeating.

This week I am looking at the damage fast foods and proceeded foods have had on our health—here is some sobering statistics on obesity. 

Internationally (source: World Health Organisation)

* Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980.

* In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 600 million were obese.

* 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2014, and 13% were obese.

* 42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2013.

* In 2013, 42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese. Once considered a high-income country problem, overweight and obesity are now on the rise in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings. In developing countries with emerging economies 

Obesity is preventable.

In the USA today: 

* Today 2/3 of adults and nearly 1/3 of children struggle with overweight and obesity

* Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent. Today there are 41 states with obesity rates over 25 percent

* 72% of older men and 67% of older women are now overweight or obese

* Obesity is linked to more than 60 chronic diseases—obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer are all preventable

* Annual medical costs of obesity are as high as $147 Billion. On average, obese people have medical costs that are $1429 more than medical costs of normal weight people.

Australians consumer on average 19kgs of sugar per year (42 pounds), Americans consume between 150 and 170 pounds (68 kgs to  (source: USDA)