Already in 2017, the Mexican Ministry of Health estimated that the cost of obesity was 240 billion pesos, an amount that, by this year 2023, would amount to 272 billion. And it is that, at present, this condition represents one of the main public health problems, since seven out of 10 people are overweight or obese in the country.
Dr. Gabriela Hernández, attached to the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) in Guerrero, has determined that “obesity has generated economic losses and it has been shown that it reduces the country’s competitiveness, causing lower labor productivity, higher costs to the treasury to treat diseases associated diseases (such as heart disease and hypertension) and loss of quality of life.
Obesity is estimated to claim 90 million lives in OECD countries
In the year 2020, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) presented the study “The Heavy Burden of Obesity”, in which it was determined that in the countries that are part of this organization, obesity will claim approximately 90 million lives.
Likewise, it has been reported that related diseases will represent an average annual reduction of 3.3 percent in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and, above all, will increase the burden on the budgets of each of the families with a figure of approximately 350 dollars per capita.
On the other hand, Ernesto Acevedo, Undersecretary of Industry, Commerce and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy, pointed out that the obesity care emergency decreed in 2016 had also become an economic emergency for Mexico. In addition. He estimated that between 2020 and 2050, the country will lose approximately 5 percent of GDP annually, which is equivalent to 1.3 trillion pesos.
Mexico ranked fifth worldwide
He indicated that “it is a figure higher than the budget that all branches of the administration have in the 2020 Federation Expenditure Budget; This figure is higher than the total joint budget of ISSSTE and IMSS“.
It has been reported that the member countries of the OECD dedicate 8.4 percent of their total health budget to the treatment of obesity-related diseases.
Finally, it should be reported that according to data from the World Obesity Federation, only in the year 2022, Mexico ranked fifth in obesity worldwide and it is estimated that the figure will increase to 35 million adults for the next decade.