India Ranks Third Among Obese Nations Globally, 70% Population Falls In This Category

New Delhi: India ranks third among top 10 countries with highest number of obese individuals, a recent Lancet report has stated.

The country is just behind the US and China with 70 per cent of its urban population overweight.

The study conducted by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration found that about eight crore individuals in India are obese, of which one crore were in age group of 5 to 19 years.

“The report revealed that 30 million adults in India are either overweight or obese and about 62 million diabetes patients have excess body fat, abdominal adiposity and fat deposition in ectopic sites,” Dr. Amit Garg, a senior bariatric and metabolic surgeon at a hospital in Mohali, told TOI.

Interestingly, while the percentage of underweight women in India has declined by about 30 per cent, the incidence of obesity among them has surged by 9 per cent. In men, there has been surge of five per cent. Obesity among children has also increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 0.7 crore boys and 0.5 crore girls in the 05-19 age group are obese, the report added.