Epidemiology of Obesity
The term obesity (recognized since the 1980s) is used to describe the health condition of anyone significantly above his or her ideal healthy weight (a body mass index of 30 or higher).
Obesity, general and abdominal, poses one of the greatest public health challenges for the 21st century with particularly alarming trends in several parts of the world. Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are the main contributors to overweight and obesity, which are among the leading risk factors for the major non-communicable diseases. The most significant consequences for health of overweight and obesity include hypertension and hyperlipidaemia, coronary heart diseases, ischemic stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain kinds of cancer. In 2005, the estimated total numbers of overweight and obese adults worldwide were 937 million and 396 million respectively, numbers that had doubled in comparison to 20 years earlier; these figures are predected to be 1.3 billion and 573 million by 2030 for overweight and obese adults respectively.
World obesity prevalence among males.[1]
World obesity prevalence among females.[1]
1. "www.iotf.org" (PDF). IOTF. http://www.iotf.org/database/documents/GlobalPrevalenceofAdultObesity16thDecember08.pdf. Retrieved Jan 29,2008.
In Iran, as of 2008, 26.3% of the population is obese and the prevalence of overweight is
40.6%. Obesity is more among women (39.5%) than men (14.5%).