3.2 The scale of obesity as an issue
Obesity has remained an ongoing focus for the UK government (Department of Health, 2012), and it was revisited in a 2020 policy paper called Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives (Department of Health and Social Care, 2020). The next activity invites you to explore the scale of the obesity problem in the UK.
Activity 4 Obesity: the statistics
Read this extract from ‘Obesity statistics [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ’ (Baker, 2023) and note down answers to the following questions.
1. What are the percentages of adults who are overweight and obese in each of the four nations of the UK?
Discussion
England: ‘In the 2021 survey, 25.9% of adults in England were obese and a further 37.9% were overweight, making a total of 63.8% who were either overweight or obese’ (p. 5).
Scotland: ‘69% of men and 65% of women in Scotland were overweight or obese in 2021’ (p. 17).
Wales: ‘In 2021/22, 26% of women and 23% of men reported being obese (BMI over 30). 67% of men were overweight or obese, compared with 58% of women’ (p. 18).
Northern Ireland: ‘In 2019/20, 27% of adults in Northern Ireland were obese, with a further 38% overweight. 71% of men were overweight or obese, compared with 60% of women’ (p. 19).
2. What is the underlying trend in obesity in England?
Discussion
There was a clear increase in the proportion of overweight or obese adults between 1993 and 2001. Since then, there have only been small changes, although the proportion has risen slightly over the past decade (p. 6).
Next, you will go beyond the obesity statistics to analyse their meaning, and then consider the strategies that are being pursued to address this issue.