More than 50% of the world’s population will be overweight or obese by 2035, according to a new report released today, unless serious action is taken.

The World Obesity Federation 2023 Atlas predicts that 51% of the world’s population, or more than 4 billion people, will be overweight or obese over the next 12 years.

Obesity rates are rising particularly rapidly among children and in low-income countries, according to the report.

Louise Baur, president of the World Obesity Federation, said policymakers need to act now to prevent the situation from worsening. “It is particularly disturbing to see obesity rates rising faster among children and adolescents,” she said in a statement. “Governments and politicians around the world must do everything possible to avoid shifting the medical, social and economic costs to the younger generation,” he said.

Childhood obesity could more than double from 2020 levels, reaching 208 million boys and 175 million girls by 2035, according to the report.

The authors of the report call for attention to the social, environmental and biological factors influencing these trends.

In 2020, 2.6 billion people, or 38% of the world’s population, were overweight or obese.

The report also notes that almost all of the countries that are expected to experience the greatest increase in obesity in the coming years are low- or middle-income countries in Asia and Africa.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.