10 Countries in the World with the Fattest Men and Women

In recent times the rapid increase in the average body size of men and women in developed countries has received considerable attention and even led to revising many health and nutritional guidelines. But apart from changing diet and sedentary lifestyles, there are other factors like genetic predisposition and cultural preferences which responsible for determining the average body size of people of various countries. According to World Health Organization, there were 1.6 billion overweight adults in the world in 2007. Here is a brief account of ten countries in the world with the fattest men and women, based on the WHO definition of overweight as a Body Mass Index of 25 or more.

1. Nauru
   
   This tiny South Pacific country is the Nauru is the world's smallest republic but also one with the highest percentage of overweight men and women in the world. According to the 2007 Forbes List of World’s fattest countries, the rate of overweight people in Nauru was a whopping 94.5%. As a result, Nauru has one of the world's highest levels of type 2 diabetes while other significant dietary-related problems affecting the population include kidney disease and heart disease. Experts believe that greater contact with the Western societies like those of United States and Australia has led to growing popularity of fast food with its high fat and calorie content.
    
2. Tonga
   
   Another South Pacific country with one of the highest percentage of overweight population is Tonga where 90.8% of its men and women are overweight. officially known as the Kingdom of Tonga, this is a sovereign state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over 700,000 square kilometers  of ocean in the South Pacific though only Fifty-two of the islands are inhabited. Over 70% of the 101,991 inhabitants of the Kingdom of Tonga live on its main island, Tongatapu and the only urban and commercial centre, Nukuʻalofa. Though village life and kinship ties remain influential throughout the country, an increasing number of people are moving into Nuku’alofa and even emigrating to neighboring countries like New Zealand and Australia. In fact remittances from the half of the country's population who live abroad constitute a significant portion of the kingdom’s economy. The increasing adoption of Western diet and lifestyle and lesser reliance on agricultural, labor-intensive work has been responsible for making Tongans one of the fattest people in the world.
   
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3. Kuwait
   
   According to the 2007 Forbes List of the fattest nations in the world, eight out of the top ten countries belong to the South Pacific and the first country from another part of the world to figure on this list is Kuwait where 74.2 % of people are overweight. Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. The country has the world's fifth largest oil reserves and petroleum products now account for nearly 95% of export revenues and 80% of government income. However all this prosperity does not seem to have translated into physical well-being since almost three-fourth of the population of the country is overweight. Apart from sedentary lifestyle and fatty diet, a cultural preference for rounded physique may also have played a part in the high percentage of people being overweight.
   
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4. United States
   
   An updated analysis of trends and social disparities in obesity released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2010 February ranked USA as the country with the highest percentage of overweight men and women among the developed countries in the world. According to this report 2 around 33.8% of people in the US are overweight – a condition that has prompted many states to consider passing legislation that would impose higher taxes on fatty and sugary foods. For instance six bills proposed by New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D) would slap hefty taxes on not only fatty foods, "but also modern icons of sedentary living -- movie tickets, video games and DVD rentals." other state laws currently under consideration would restrict the sale of soda and candy in public schools, require fast-food chains to post fat and sugar content directly on all menu boards, and even attempt to tax the fat away. The OECD study also found that growing obesity rates are increasingly the result of social and economic inequality. For example, less educated women were 2 to 3 times more likely than their educated counterparts to be overweight, and obese workers earned up to 18 percent less than the non-obese. Not only this, obese people are especially at risk of developing potentially fatal medical conditions. Over 44 million Americans are now considered obese 3, with an associated increase in cases of serious and costly diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and kidney failure.
    
5. Mexico
   
   According to the above-mentioned OECD report, Mexico ranks as the second country with the fattest men and women among the developed countries of the world. with around thirty percent of the adult population overweight, buyers including Mexican giant retailers like Soriana and Liverpool, are increasingly asking for "large" and "extra large" sizes, which have all but replaced production of "small" and "medium." The Mexican government launched a campaign in 2010 urging people to exercise, drink more water, and eat fruits and vegetables. however government efforts seemed to have had little impact since 4.5 million children are already overweight between the ages of 5 and 11, according to 2011 CNN article4 which quotes OECD statistics putting the percentage of Mexico’s overweight population even higher at a stupendous 69.5%. Mexico's Institute for Public Health reports that the number of overweight or obese school-aged children increased from 18.4% in 1999 to 26.2% in 2006. Not surprisingly diabetes type 1 which is closely associated with obesity has emerged as the number one fatal disease in Mexico.
    
6. New Zealand
   
   New Zealand is yet another country from the developed world which has witnessed a surge in overweight population in recent times. The 2012 OECD report puts the overweight percentage of population in New Zealand at 26.5%. A major nutrition report5 released previously in 2007 by the Ministry of Health showed certain differences based on gender and ethnicity. For men the obesity rate shot up to 27.7 per cent in 2009, up from 17 per cent in 1997 whereas in case of women rate was slightly higher, at 27.8 per cent, up from 20.6 per cent in 1997. The survey also found that obesity rates were higher among Maori populace, with 40.7 per cent of men and 48.1 per cent of women declared clinically obese. Here too Obesity was found to be more common in people who were socioeconomically deprived. The increased rate of immigration of ethnic groups who are traditionally large-sized from other South Pacific islands to New Zealand may be another reason why rates of overweight population are increasing in the country.
    
7. Chile
   
   With 25.1 % of the population falling into overweight category, Chile appears to have the largest number of fattest people among the South American countries. Chile is one of those countries which have witnessed a nutrition transition--economies that are used to dealing primarily with under nutrition are now staring at the prospect of another enemy,  obesity. The problems of obesity rates dramatically increase in countries that are undergoing economical development because rural workers moving to urban areas perform less physical labor and supplant traditional low-fat diets that include local goods with processed diets that are high in fat and sugar. The same thing has happened in Chile as well - the proportion of malnutrition among children aged less than 6 years decreased from 37% to 2.9% in the period 1960–2000 whereas, the prevalence of obesity now has reached 20% among 4-year-old children, according to a WHO report6 . The wave of industrialization and urbanization that  occurred in Chile during the second half of the 20th century soon led to unhealthy dietary and physical activity patterns. As a result in Chile, there has been a rapid shift in diet to increased consumption of high energy-dense foods and caloric beverages, animal-source foods, and caloric sweeteners added to many other foods, all of which have resulted in sharp increase of overweight population.
    
8. Australia
   
   In Australia, The rates of overweight and Obesity amongst adults have doubled over the past two decades. With the 2012 OECD report putting the number of overweight people in Australia at 24.6%, the country now ranks as one of the fattest developed nations. According to information provided by the Australian government7, around 20-25% of Australian children in 1995, aged 7-15 years were considered to be overweight or obese. In 2004-05, some 41% of males and 25% of females were classified as overweight or with a Body Mass Index of between 25.0 and 30.0. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the Centre for Health Program Evaluation (CHPE) have estimated that the direct cost of obesity in Australia in 1989-90 was $464 million. This is around 2% of Australia’s total health care costs. Indirect costs (value of production lost to premature death and absenteeism) were further estimated to be another $272 million, bringing the total cost in 1989-90 to $736 million.
    
9. Canada
   
   Another North American country to figure on the list of nations with the fattest people is Canada where around 24.2% of the population is estimated to be overweight. Figures compiled by Statistics Canada8 from 2007 to 2009, reports that Among Canadian men, the prevalence of obesity was 24.3% while 23.9% of Canadian women were obese. Among men, the increase was highest among those aged 60 to 74. Among women, the increase was highest among those aged 20 to 39. Across Canada, adult obesity rates vary from 5.3% in Richmond, BC to 35.9% in the Mamawetan/Keewatin/Athabasca region of SK. a newer study of obesity in Canada9 identified factors like level of physical activity, diet, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, immigration, and environment as the main causes of the recent rise in overweight population in the country. According to the report, the economic costs of obesity were estimated at $4.6 billion in 2008, up about 19% from $3.9 billion in 2000, based on costs associated with the eight chronic diseases most consistently linked to obesity. Estimates could rise to close to $7.1 billion when based on the costs associated with 18 chronic diseases linked to obesity.
    
10. United Kingdom
    
    European countries have been known to have relatively lower numbers of overweight population, primarily on account of healthier diet and better incorporation of physical activity in daily lives. However in recent times several European countries too have witnessed rising numbers of overweight and obese people due to various reasons, ranging from increasing influence of American fast food culture to immigrant communities. In Europe the 2012 OECD report mentions United Kingdom as the country with the fattest people where around 23% of the people are overweight. According to information put out by the National Health Service though the figures are much higher. The key findings show that in 2010, just over a quarter of adults - 26% of both men and women - were obese, whereas 42% of men and 32% of women were overweight 10. The report also mentions that for both men and women, the conditions ‘most at risk’ for being overweight were positively associated with age, being an ex-cigarette smoker, self perceptions of not eating healthily, not being physically active and hypertension. Even though Income was also associated with being ‘most at risk’, the consequences were different for men and women – income appeared to have a positive association for men but a negative association for women.

References:

1. Forbes.com - World's Fattest Countries
    
2. Huffington Post - Obesity Rates Rising: 10 Fattest Countries In The Developed World
    
3. About.com - Big Brother - Thinner Brother
    
4. CNNWorld - Mexico's other enemy: Obesity rates triple in last 3 decades
    
5. The New Zealand Herald - New Zealand's obesity rate surges
    
6. World Health Organization - Morbid obesity in a developing country: the Chilean experience
    
7. Australian Government: Department of Health and Ageing - Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australia
    
8. Statistics Canada - Canadian Health Measures Survey: Adult obesity prevalence in Canada and the United States
    
9. Public Health Agency of Canada - Obesity in Canada