Vietnam among countries with lowest obesity rate: Global study

The study also unveiled the highest level of obesity among children and young adults was in the United States at nearly 13 percent while Egypt topped the list for adult obesity at about 35 percent.

China and India had the most alarming number of obese children with 15.3 million and 14.4 million, respectively. Meanwhile, the US with 79.4 million had the largest adult obesity figure, followed by China with 57.3 million. 

Conducted in 195 countries and territories over a 35 year-period, the research showed that more than 2 billion adults and children, or one third of the world’s population, are now overweight or obese. 

It found that the number of obese people has doubled since 1980 in 70 countries and continuously increased in most other nations. 

In 2015, some 2.2 billion children and adults worldwide were overweight, of which 108 million children and over 600 million adults being obese, said the study, adding that the rate of increase in childhood obesity was greater than that of adults.

The same year, four million deaths worldwide attributed to excess body weight, according to the research. 

The findings represent a growing and spreading a global public health crisis, triggering many problems, because obesity leads to risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and other life-threatening conditions, said the research’s authors. 

The results of the study are based on data from the most recent Global Burden of Disease study to quantify the magnitude of health loss from all major diseases, injuries, and risk factors by age, sex, and population.