US Obesity Levels Are Particularly Severe

In most OECD countries that collect self-reported weight data, more than half of adults are overweight or obese (2023 or latest available data).

However, as Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, obesity prevalence was particularly high in the United States, with just over a third of respondents saying that they are obese in 2023.

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In Chile and the United Kingdom rates were just above one in four, while Korea had the lowest share of people with obesity of the countries studied at just 4.9 percent.

According to the World Health Organization, a body mass index (BMI) of over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 obese.

Obesity is linked to a range of health issues such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and several common cancers. Although awareness is increasing around the topic, obesity is still often misunderstood due to misconceptions of it being solely due to poor lifestyle choices, whereas factors such as genetic predisposition and environmental influences are also important.