A new study warns that by 2050, nearly 60% of adults and one-third of children globally will be overweight or obese without governmental intervention. Published in the Lancet, the study analysed data from 204 countries, highlighting obesity as a major health challenge this century.
Nearly 60 percent of all adults and a third of all children in the world will be overweight or obese by 2050 unless governments take action, a large new study said Tuesday.
The research published in the Lancet medical journal used data from 204 countries to paint a grim picture of what it described as one of the great health challenges of the century.
"The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure," lead author Emmanuela Gakidou, from the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), said in a statement.
The number of overweight or obese people worldwide rose from 929 million in 1990 to 2.6 billion in 2021, the study found.
Without a serious change, the researchers estimate that 3.8 billion adults will be overweight or obese in 15 years -- -- or around 60 percent of the global adult population in 2050.
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The world's health systems will come under crippling pressure, the researchers warned, with around a quarter of the world's obese expected to be aged over 65 by that time.