Europe’s Overweight Population Now At 50 Percent
The OECD and the EU Commission said on Tuesday that over half of adults in the European Union are overweight or obese, placing more pressure onto their own health, their nations’ health systems and the wider economy.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Brussels-based Commission said in a report on health in 27-member bloc that the rate of obesity has more than doubled over the past 20 years in most member states.
The report also found that one in seven EU children are overweight or obese.
"This has considerable implications for costs of healthcare," it said, citing a recent study on England which forecast that total costs linked to overweight and obesity could increase by as much as 70 percent between 2007 and 2015.
"Children who are obese or overweight are more likely to suffer from poor health later in life, with a greater risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, some forms of cancer, arthritis, asthma, a reduced quality of life and even premature death," the "Health at a Glance: Europe 2010" report said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people with a body mass index (BMI) of between 25 and 30 are overweight, and those who are 30 or more are considered obese.
Over half of the EU adult population are now at least overweight.
The report found that health spending has risen in all EU member states in the past decade, often increasing at a faster rate than economic growth. EU states spent an average of 8.3 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on health in 2008, which is up from 7.3 percent in 1998.
Better living conditions and medical progress have helped life expectancy at birth in the EU to increase by 6 years between 1980 and 2007.
"Improvements in living and working conditions and in some health-related behaviors have contributed greatly to these longevity gains, but progress in medical care also deserves much credit," the report said.
The report said a wide range of obesity rates across the EU was from less than 10 percent in Romania and Italy to over 20 percent in the U.K., Ireland and Malta. Just over 15 percent of the EU adult population is obese.
Europe’s Commission for health and consumer policy John Dalli said that it would serve as a useful tool for governments to see where the major problems are.
"In order to reverse the growing trend in obesity and other health problems in the EU we need reliable and up-to-date data to underpin the action we take," he said in a statement.
The report found that several factors had led to a decline in deaths from heart disease, which is still the biggest cause of death in the EU.
The second leading cause of death in the EU is cancer. The highest number of cancer deaths was reported in Denmark, followed by Hungary, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics and Slovenia. The lowest numbers of cancer deaths were in Cyprus, Finland and Sweden.
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