Out of every 100 people in your country, how many do you think are overweight? When Ipsos MORI posed this question to respondents recently, the majority of them significantly underestimated the prevalence of obesity. In India, however, there was an overestimation. Only 20 percent of people are overweight while the average guess there was 41 percent. In the United States, people guessed that the obesity rate is 50 percent. In reality, it is 62 percent. Saudi Arabia is struggling with an obesity problem and its citizens significantly underestimated its extent. They guessed that 28 out of every 100 people are overweight while in reality, the number is 71.
This chart shows responses to the question “out of every 100 people, how many do you think are overweight/obese?”
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Statistics and facts about overweight and the obesity epidemic
Obesity and weight issues are well-known problems in modern societies worldwide. In the United States this problem is severe with an extremely high prevalence of obesity and overweight people, amongst both the adult and younger population. This issue is often related to the American lifestyle, which includes fast food as one of its most famous components.
The highest obesity rates within the United States exist in its southern parts. Differences in the obesity rate can also be seen between ethnic groups. As of 2012, almost 72 percent of all African American adults were classed as being overweight or obese, making this ethnic group the one with the highest rate in America. When looking at gender, men are recorded as suffering from higher rates at a lower class of obesity, while amongst women more fall within the upper class of obesity. A closer look at the U.S. states reveals interesting correlations: Many of those states with the highest obesity and overweight rates also have the highest prevalence in heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Weight issues and obesity are being discussed more and more at a higher level and government spending in this area has recently increased to attempt to address the resulting health costs to the economy. All future scenarios for obesityin the U.S. show a significant increase in expenditures still to come. This could have serious implications for the cost for diseases that result from obesity and being overweight, like diabetes or heart diseases for example.
Given the fact, that most physicians see diet and exercise as being the most important tool against obesity and weight issues, the existing obesity therapy market value is relatively small. In 2012, for example, the pharmaceutical market for this condition generated revenues of only 400 million U.S. dollars. However, some predictions show that this value could increase up to over eight billion U.S. dollars by 2022.
