Obesity and overweight.

 Key Facts

In 2022, one in eight individuals globally were affected by obesity.

Since 1990, the prevalence of adult obesity worldwide has more than doubled, while adolescent obesity has increased fourfold.

In 2022, there were 2.5 billion adults (aged 18 and older) classified as overweight, with 890 million of them living with obesity.

Among adults aged 18 and over in 2022, 43% were overweight, and 16% were classified as obese.

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By 2024, 35 million children under the age of five were reported as overweight.

In 2022, over 390 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 were overweight, including 160 million who were living with obesity.

Overview

Overweight refers to an excess accumulation of fat.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease resulting from intricate interactions among genetics, neurobiology, dietary habits, access to nutritious food, market dynamics, and the wider environment. In recent decades, obesity has surged globally as nations have achieved improved food security, socioeconomic progress, and changes in diet, physical activity, and societal and individual behaviors influe⅚nced by globalization and industrialized food systems. These factors have fostered increasingly obesogenic environments, leading to a global public health crisis with over 1 billion individuals living with obesity and rising rates in nearly every country (1).

The diagnosis of overweight or obesity is determined by assessing an individual's weight and height, followed by calculating the body mass index (BMI): weight (kg)/height² (m²). The BMI serves as a proxy for fatness, and additional metrics, such as waist circumference, can assist in diagnosing obesity.

The BMI classifications for obesity differ based on age and gender for adults, adolescents, children, and infants.

Obesity and overweight 

Definition of Overweight and Obesity
The WHO defines overweight and obesity as follows:

Adults
For adults:

- Overweight is defined as a BMI of 25 or higher; and

- Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or higher.

Children

For children, age must be considered when assessing weight status.

WHO response

For many years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the urgent need to address the global obesity crisis.

In 2012, WHO Member States endorsed the World Health Assembly (WHA) Global Nutrition Targets, which aim to prevent any increase in childhood overweight, along with the NCD target to stop the rise of diabetes and obesity by 2025. These targets were later extended to 2030 during the WHA in 2025. They recognized that swift global action is essential to tackle the widespread and damaging issue of the dual burden of malnutrition.

During the Seventy-fifth World Health Assembly in 2022, Member States called for and adopted new recommendations for the prevention and management of obesity, endorsing the WHO Acceleration plan to combat obesity. Since its adoption, the Acceleration plan has influenced the political landscape, generating the momentum necessary for sustainable change, establishing a framework to shape, streamline, and prioritize policies, supporting implementation in various countries, and enhancing accountability at both national and global levels.

In December 2025, WHO released guidelines on the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies for treating obesity in adults. These guidelines aim to facilitate the safe, equitable, and appropriate integration of pharmacological therapy for adults within comprehensive chronic care programs for obesity. While not a standalone solution, this guideline serves as one of many resources to assist countries in developing comprehensive chronic care systems that include pharmacological treatment as an option, while also fostering health systems that acknowledge obesity as a complex, lifelong condition.