Here’s Why Obesity Grew So Quickly Worldwide, and Where That’s Starting to Change

June 8, 2023

(STAT News) – A closer look at the latest global obesity data tells a more nuanced story than monolithic surging. It’s true that, worldwide, obesity continues to rise. But in high-income countries, such as the U.S., the rate of increase in body mass index, or BMI, has actually been slowing, even beginning to level off. In these places, “the real takeoff was in the ’80s, ’90s, early 2000s,” said Boyd Swinburn, a University of Auckland professor who has been tracking global obesity trends, “and then it started to plateau.” Nowadays, most of the global growth is being driven by the sharp increases in low- and middle-income countries. (Read More)