Global Increases in Obesity Set to Continue in Children, Teens to 2050

WEDNESDAY, March 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Globally, increases in obesity are projected to continue to 2050 for children and adolescents, and the prevalence of overweight and obesity is set to increase among adults, according to two studies published online March 3 in The Lancet.

Jessica A. Kerr, Ph.D., from the Murdoch Children”s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues modeled overweight and obesity across childhood and adolescence from 1990 to 2021, and then forecast to 2050. The researchers found that the combined prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents doubled between 1990 and 2021, and the prevalence of obesity alone tripled. By 2021, 93.1 million and 80.6 million individuals aged 5 to 14 and 15 to 24 years, respectively, had obesity. Global increases in overweight prevalence are forecasted to stabilize from 2022 to 2050, but the absolute proportion of the global population with obesity is set to increase.

Marie Ng, Ph.D., from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, and colleagues estimated the global prevalence of overweight and obesity among individuals aged 25 years and older from 1990 to 2050. The researchers found that from 1990 to 2021, there was an increase in rates of overweight and obesity at the global and regional levels and in all nations. An estimated 1.00 and 1.11 billion men and women, respectively, had overweight and obesity in 2021. The total number of adults living with overweight and obesity is projected to reach 3.80 billion by 2050 assuming continuation of historical trends, which will represent half the likely global adult population at that time.

“Further understanding of the causes and mechanisms of obesity development could pave the way to improved lasting prevention,” Thorkild I.A. Sørensen, of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, writes in an accompanying editorial.

Several authors from both studies disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical and other industries.

Abstract/Full Text – Kerr

Abstract/Full Text – Ng

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