Facts/Statistics:-

Adult Obesity;

Some recent WHO global estimates follow;

 In general, about 13% (650 million) of the world’s adult’s population were obese in 2016.
1

 The worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016.2

In 2019, an estimated 38.2 million children under the age of 5 years were obese.3 Almost half of
the children under 5 who were obese in 2019 lived in Asia.4

Adolescent Obesity:

1
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
2
IBID
3
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4
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Then 340 million adolescents aged 5-19 were obese in 2016.5The prevalence of overweight and
obesity amongst adolescents aged 5-19 has risen dramatically from just 4% in 1975 to just over
18% in 2016. 6

Dangers:
 According to Global Burden of disease, 8% of deaths worldwide which is about 4.7 million
were credited to obesity in 2017.7

Pakistan:

Stats;

 According to a study published by the world renowned journal Lancet, Pakistan ranks 9 th in the
list of countries with the most obese population.8

Culture;

 By far the biggest reason behind the rise of Obesity in Pakistan is our unhealthy relationship with
food which is based on adoption and blind following of desi food which is harmful as it; contains
high amount of oils and fats. High intake of meat, judicious use of sweets in celebrating
imperative events of life is common and fizzy dinks are also widely used.
 Most of the daily used food items are cooked in gigantic bowls filled with unnecessary amount
of oil that isn’t efficiently digested by our digestive system. Instead of making us healthy their
abuse is causing obesity in the population.
 People misunderstand overweight with healthiness; they say you are getting healthy when a
person gains weight and it is the culture there.
 Most of the population spends a great sum of its time lying idly and consider exercise either a
taboo or feast for the younger generation. This sedentary lifestyle is a leading cause behind the
prominence of obesity in women and adults along with the inability to follow a defined diet plan.
 Accelerating prices of staple foods like cereals, fruits.

5
IBID
6
IBID
7
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-by-cause
8
https://nutright.com/blog/obesity-in-pakistan/#:~:text=Awry%20Cultural%20Interference,%E2%80%9D
%20(tradition%20or%20culture).
Urban areas;

 Like the rest of the world Obesity is more dominant in urban areas of Pakistan compared to rural
areas.
 Obesity among men and women living in urban areas is 6 to 7 percent higher than those living in
rural areas belonging to the same age group.
 These fast food items are an enormous reserve of fats and calories and they are deliciousness
renders our metabolic system unable to break them.

Women;

 Obesity is more prevalent in women than men because of the sedentary lifestyle and
hormonal imbalance during pregnancy, women beat men by a margin of 10% that is 38-
28% when it comes to obesity.

Religious/Cultural perspective:
 Ramadan and obesity as fasting (Muslim countries; i.e. Pakistan, Iran and more)
 Culture of housewives being held home for home chores (South Asian countries; i.e.
Pakistan, India and more)
 Culture in rural areas tend to men and women both working in the fields
(underdeveloped/developing countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sudan,
 Culture of cycling, using public transports, walking around the town in developed
countries. (Western countries/European countries i.e. France, UK and more )
 Misconception between healthiness and overweight. (South Asia i.e. India, Pakistan)
 High fats, meat oils foods, fizzy drinks (South Asia i.e. Subcontinent)