China has largest number of obese children in world, study says
Mainland also ranks second behind the United States for number of obese adults, international research reports
China has the world’s biggest population of obese children and is second only to the United States in the number of obese adults, a global study has found.
According to the Global Burden of Disease report led by a team at the University of Washington in Seattle, China had 15 million obese children in 2015, followed by India with 14 million.
China also had 57 million obese adults, second globally to the United States with 79 million.
The report was published online by the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.
The researchers looked at the prevalence of obesity among children and adults in 195 countries between 1980 and 2015, and concluded that about 5 per cent of children and 12 per cent of adults worldwide were obese in 2015.
They said national wealth was not the main factor driving the higher rates of obesity. Instead, increased availability, accessibility, and affordability of energy-dense foods, and intense marketing of such foods, could explain excess energy intake and weight gain among different populations, the report said.