The obesity rate increases and threatens health in OECD countries, according to a report by the same body.
More people in developed countries are overweight or obese than ever before, something that condemns them to physical problems, increases health costs and increases pressure on health systems, according to an OECD report released Tuesday.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the obesity rate ranges from a low 4 percent in Japan and Korea to 30 percent or more in the United States and Mexico.
But in more than half of the 34 OECD countries, at least one in two is currently overweight or obese, and the number is projected to increase. In some nations, two out of three people will be obese in a 10-year period, according to the report.
These people “will die early, and health costs will rise further.”
Experts say that morbidly obese people die an average of eight to 10 years earlier than those of normal weight, as every extra 15 kilograms increases the risk of early death by about 30 percent.
Obesity, which the World Health Organization (WHO) says occurs when a person has a body mass index of more than 30, is estimated to be responsible for between 1 and 3 percent of total health expenditure in the most countries, and between 5 and 10 percent in the United States.
“The costs will increase rapidly in the coming years as obesity-related illnesses are becoming more common” among the population, the OECD report said.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure that compares weight and height. The person is overweight if his BMI is greater than 25 kilos per square meter and obese if he exceeds 30 kilos per square meter.
A global study conducted last year found that more than 500 million people, or one adult in 10 worldwide, were obese and that the obesity epidemic was spreading rapidly from rich to poor nations.
This report, which the OECD said was an update of its 2010 study on the economics of obesity prevention, also found good news.
New data from 10 countries showed that in the past decade, the obesity rate slowed or stopped increasing in England, Hungary, Italy, Korea and Switzerland, and grew just 2 to 3 percent in France and Spain.
However, in Canada, Ireland and the United States the rate increased by 4 to 5 percent.
Meanwhile, the rate of childhood obesity has stabilized in England, France, Korea and the United States. The OECD said this was in part due to increasing efforts by governments to attack the root of the problem.
The report noted that some governments, such as those in Denmark, Finland, France and Hungary, had passed laws in 2011 with higher taxes on foods high in fat or sugar.