KABUL (Pajhwok): Decisive action has been urged to curb the growing problem of excess weight as more than half of the world’s population would be overweight or obese by 2035, according to a media report on Friday.
A report published in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/mar/02/more-than-half-of-humans-on-track-to-be-overweight-or-obese-by-2035-report">The Guardian</a> said about 2.6 billion people globally – 38% of the world population – are already overweight or obese.
But on current trends that is expected to rise to more than 4 billion people (51%) in 12 years’ time, according to <a href="https://www.worldobesityday.org/resources/entry/world-obesity-atlas-2023" data-link-name="in body link">research by the World Obesity Federation</a>.
Without widespread use of tactics such as taxes and limits on the promotion of unhealthy food, the number of people who are clinically obese will increase from one in seven today to one in four by 2035. If that happens, almost 2 billion people worldwide would be living with obesity.
Those with a <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/" data-link-name="in body link">body mass index (BMI)</a> of 25 are judged to be overweight, while people whose BMI is at least 30 are deemed to be obese. Evidence shows that obesity increases someone’s risk of cancer, heart disease and other diseases.
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