Top List of 10 Most Obese Countries

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  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    This isn't a list of countries based on their percentages of obese people, though. It says, "More than half of the 671 million obese people in the world live in 10 countries, and America tops the list." I.e., it's skewed based on total population -- meaning even worse news for the US, which has far fewer people than China or India -- and potentially omitting countries with smaller populations (perhaps the UK, as was mentioned above).

    This. If it was based on population, I believe Somoa usually ends up on top.

    From the list I was using Samoa is 55.5%, but gets beaten by Tonga (59.6%) and Cook Islands (64.1%).
  • tedrickp
    tedrickp Posts: 1,229 Member
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    I'd say increased caloric intake has more to do with obesity than a perceived sedentary lifestyle (or genetics)

    Here is a great paper on it:
    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2009/10/14/ajcn.2009.28595.full.pdf

    Interesting notes...

    Estimated intake for children:

    1970s: 1690cals/day
    2000s: 2043cals/day

    Esitmated intake for adults:
    1970s: 2398 cals/day
    2000s: 2859 cals/day in the 2000

    That difference in intake actually mirrors the average weight gain over the same time period.
  • jimbmc
    jimbmc Posts: 83 Member
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    Here in the UK, we have gone through a regime against the effects of smoking. 30 years ago, roughly 80% of the population smoked, these days its more like 30%. This has been due to education, peer pressure, Health, and a number of Bans put in place.

    You cant smoke in Pubs or restaraunts, you cant smoke in other public areas, Railway stations, Town centres etc etc. Cigarettes are now packaged with large warnings on them, including graphic images. If you go into a shop, you cant see the Cigarette counter anymore, it HAS to be covered up, and the PRICE has shot up rapidly - 20 cigarettes for approx £7.00 or more.

    I guess this has helped cut down on the % of the pop that smoke.

    Whilst I applaud this (I AM an ex-smoker btw), I truly believe that the obesity issue is having a larger impact on health than smoking ever did.

    To put it simply, a Child is more likely to get OVERWEIGHT, long before they think about taking up smoking.

    If we could place the same restrictions and regulations on the fast food industry, then I'm sure it would go along way to reducing the Obesity problems aroud the world.

    So instead of a McDonalds Happy meal, being covered in Pictures of Slender Disney Princess' or Well-built Superheroes', we should place pictures of people with severe Diabetis, Heart Conditions, Limb ulcers etc.

    SHow a child a picture of someone severly overweight at the age of 20, bed-ridden in their own home and having to go through a number of surgical operations in order to save their life, I'm sure it might make them think twice.


    N.B. Please do not think I am having a go at people who are suffering from weight and diet issues. Thats the reason we are all on here! Myself included! But I know, that if someone had said to me 30 years ago "btw, that Large Burger Meal your eating contains 1600 calories, and if you keep eating them, you will end up 5 stone overweight", then chances are, I wouldnt have to use MFP.
  • manhn1
    manhn1 Posts: 137 Member
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    US-- 31.8% (we kick a** on any scale)
    China -- 5.6%
    India -- 1.9%
    Russia -- 24.9%
    Brazil -- 19.5%
    Mexico -- 32.8%
    Egypt -- 34.6%
    Germany -- 21.3%
    Pakistan -- 5.9%
    Indonesia -- 4.7%

    I love that less than 2% of the population in India is deemed obese (OMG!), but there are posters expressing no surprise at India's supposed obesity epidemic. 2%!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    http://www.sciencenewsline.com/articles/2014052823190016.html

    They sure picked a weird stat out of the article. I guess alarmist info sells more magazines.

    Here's some other, more heartening info from it:

    "In developed countries, the rate of increase in adult obesity has started to slow down in the past 8 years..."

    "However, there is some evidence of a plateau in adult obesity rates that provides some hope that the epidemic might have peaked in some developed countries and that populations in other countries might not reach the very high rates of more than 40% reported in some developing countries."*"
  • dmenchac
    dmenchac Posts: 447 Member
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    This isn't a list of countries based on their percentages of obese people, though. It says, "More than half of the 671 million obese people in the world live in 10 countries, and America tops the list." I.e., it's skewed based on total population -- meaning even worse news for the US, which has far fewer people than China or India -- and potentially omitting countries with smaller populations (perhaps the UK, as was mentioned above).

    This.

    Take this article with a grain of salt. It is incredibly skewed.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    US-- 31.8% (we kick a** on any scale)
    China -- 5.6%
    India -- 1.9%
    Russia -- 24.9%
    Brazil -- 19.5%
    Mexico -- 32.8%
    Egypt -- 34.6%
    Germany -- 21.3%
    Pakistan -- 5.9%
    Indonesia -- 4.7%

    I love that less than 2% of the population in India is deemed obese (OMG!), but there are posters expressing no surprise at India's supposed obesity epidemic. 2%!

    Yeah! That country is thin!!
  • BuoyantSoul
    BuoyantSoul Posts: 117 Member
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    I have been wondering about this for a while...is it possible being bigger and heavier become part of the evolution? Our ancestors were living through much harder times when food supply was scarce and they had to work harder given technology was so advanced. We see obesity being big health threat but also trends that younger generations become taller and heavier overall...I don't know just wondering...please don't bash me~:flowerforyou:

    Not bashing, completely understand how the statistics seem to show this.
    1. Evolution doesn't work this fast
    2. We are taller because of the amount of early childhood nutrients
    3. 30 years in the US and even less than 10 years in other countries, trend, is not supported human evolution being the cause.

    I truly believe it's our lifestyle. I've seen it reflected in my personal weight gain. Sitting my rear all day, coding, glued to a monitor 12 hours pushing code through, and eating McNuggets because I could easily stuff them in my face while not skipping a beat.

    Thank you for being the voice of scientific reason here.

    In China people have grown much taller over the course of two generations. I literally tower over the grannies here, whereas I'm only slightly taller than those in their 20s. It's not evolution, but the fact that those grannies were children during the famine, meaning food was scarce, and the generation which is now in their 20s grew up during a time of increased prosperity and food abundance. Also, during the famine and the generation directly following, people often did not get adequate nutrition, particularly calcium and vitamin D. The aging population has a lot of skeletal disorders including bowlegs (which happens during early childhood) and osteoporosis plus other disorders related to childhood nutritional deficit.

    Since famine is in the living memory of many grandparents here, people are extremely cautious about feeding children enough. I would even say obsessed, which is understandable considering how many children died during the famine. The result is that babies and young children are often overfed and obese. In that past that was a sign of health and meant your child would probably survive. Remember that in China, infant and maternal mortality was high up until relatively recently and some of that had to do with improper nutrition, among other factors. So even though now people needn't worry so much about it, the mindset hasn't really changed. Fat = strong, at least for children.
  • ALKNica
    ALKNica Posts: 50
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    US-- 31.8% (we kick a** on any scale)
    China -- 5.6%
    India -- 1.9%
    Russia -- 24.9%
    Brazil -- 19.5%
    Mexico -- 32.8%
    Egypt -- 34.6%
    Germany -- 21.3%
    Pakistan -- 5.9%
    Indonesia -- 4.7%

    I love that less than 2% of the population in India is deemed obese (OMG!), but there are posters expressing no surprise at India's supposed obesity epidemic. 2%!

    Yeah! That country is thin!!

    The population of India is 1,236,344,631. 2% of that is nearly 25 million people, or thereabouts, almost as much as the entire population of Texas. That is still a large number of people, even if it's not a large percentage of the population.

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