30 per cent of world is now fat, no country immune
May 29, 2014  22:21
Almost a third of the world is now fat, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis. 

Researchers found more than 2 billion people worldwide are now overweight or obese. The highest rates were in the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 60 per cent of men and 65 per cent of women are heavy. The US has about 13 per cent of the world's fat population, a greater percentage than any other country. China and India combined have about 15 per cent.

"It's pretty grim," said Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, who led the study. He and colleagues reviewed more than 1,700 studies covering 188 countries from 1980 to 2013.

"When we realised that not a single country has had a significant decline in obesity, that tells you how hard a challenge this is."
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