Childhood Obesity around the World

Obesity now causes more deaths worldwide than malnutrition. Reductions are possible. A multifaceted prevention effort— including parents, preschools, pediatricians, and grocery stores—has reduced obesity among U.S. 2- to 5-year-olds: Overall, the prevalence of obesity among adolescents (20.6%) and school-aged children (18.4%) is higher than among preschool- aged children (13.9%) (Hales et al., 2017). However, obesity rates from age 6 to 60 remain high everywhere.

A world map shows percentage of overweight 5- to 19-year-olds. No data for Western Sahara and French Guyana. Regions with less than 10 percent are some parts of South America, majority of countries in Africa, Europe, East and South Asia, and all of Russia and Australia. Regions with 10 to 15 percent are several countries in Northern and Southern Africa, Southern Europe, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Greenland, and China and Thailand in Asia. Regions with 15 to 20 percent are much of South America, Angola, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia. Regions with over 20 percent are United States and a small part of Western Canada.

Data from World Health Organization, September 29, 2017.

Factors contributing to childhood obesity, by the numbers

Children’s exposure to ads for unhealthy food continues to correlate with childhood obesity (e.g., Hewer, 2014), but nations differ. For instance, in stark contrast with the United States, the United Kingdom has banned television advertising of foods high in fat, sugar, and salt to children under age 16. The map above shows data from the World Health Organization; other groups’ data may differ. However, the overall fact is clear: Childhood obesity is far too common.

A figure displays the following information:

• 3: The average number of hours per day U.S. 5- to 8-year-olds spend with television and other digital media.
• 80: The percentage of all advertisements in U.S. children's programming that are for fast food and snacks.
• 11: The number of food ads that U.S. children see per hour of television viewing
• 1: The minimum number of hours children should be actively moving (either in organized or spontaneous play) each day, according to the World Health Organization.
• 12: The number of fast-food meal combinations, out of a possible 3,039, that meet nutritional criteria for preschoolers.
• 110: The amount of money, in billions, that Americans spend on fast food annually. (This is more than what is spent on higher education, computers, and cars.)
• 6: The number of pounds per year that result from these extra fast-food calories.
• 30 percentage: The percentage of U.S. children who eat fast food on any given day.

Data from Council on Communications and Media, 2011, p. 202; Rideout, 2017.