Half of the world population will suffer from obesity – the situation in Israel is worrying

The global obesity epidemic is expected to get worse: a new study published in the journal The Lancet presents sad predictions: by 2050, more than half of the adult world population and a third of the young and children will be overweight or obesity. The data is based on a comprehensive study that examines information from 200 countries and warns against accelerated increase in the prevalence of the phenomenon, especially in low-income countries.

Until 2021, almost half of the world’s adult population-about a billion men and 1.11 billion women aged 25 and over-were already overweight or obesity. Since 1990, the proportion of men and women living with these situations has doubled. If these trends continue, the rate of overweight or obesity will reach up to 2050 to about 57.4% among men and 60.3% among women.

The countries in which people are expected to be overweight or obesity in 2050 are China with 627 million people, 450 million people thanked it, and the United States with 214 million people. Providers show that due to population growth, the number of overweight or obesity in Africa, south of Sahara, will leap in more than 250% and reach about 522 million people by 2050.

Nigeria is particularly prominent, where the number is expected more than three-from 36.6 million in 2021 to about 141 million in 2050. This figure will stand Nigeria fourth in the world in terms of the number of overweight or obesity adults.

Among children and young people, the increase in obesity rates is particularly sharp. From 1990 to 2021, the proportion of young children and boys suffering from obesity increased from 8.8% to 18.1%. Among young people up to the age of 25, the rate increased from 9.9% to 20.3%. According to forecasts, if the trend continues, in 2050 one in three young people in the world will be overweight or obesity – a given that is a significant threat to the health systems in the world.

The data in Israel is very worrying: According to the obesity report in women in Israel in 1990, it was 45.5% and in men 50%.

Prof. Amanuella Gakido From the Institute of Health and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, which led the study, emphasizes that governments can act to prevent the expected disaster.

According to her, the interventions should be focused on certain population groups – those who already suffer from obesity should receive immediate treatment, while the excess overweight groups should be mainly aimed at prevention. The researcher also noted that the global obesity epidemic is “deep tragedy and social failure on a huge scale.”

The study did not take into account the effect of new weight loss drugs such as Vigoboba and Mengaro, which may dramatically affect the obesity rates in the future. However, experts emphasize that without changing a large -scale global policy, current trends can lead to the collapse of health systems in many countries.