Obesity rates rise substantially worldwide

The number of overweight and obese people worldwide is now over 2.1 billion, up from 857 million in 1980, a new analysis has shown, representing a 28% increase among adults and a 47% increase among children.1

The Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, published in the Lancet, showed that in the developed world men had higher obesity rates than women, whereas the opposite was true in developing countries. Obesity is classified as a body mass index of 30 kg/m² or higher, and overweight as a body mass index of 25 kg/m² or higher.

The study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, showed that the …