Obesity has been steadily on the rise across the planet for the last few years.
In fact, studies have shown that the number of obese people across the globe has doubled
in the last two decades.
This can easily be blamed on easy access to junk food and sedentary lifestyles.
While there’s nothing wrong with having some curves or enjoying your partner’s love-handles,
when a person’s weight gets out of hand, it brings with it severe health problems including
diabetes and heart problems and, at its extreme, can even be a cause of death.
Did you know that obesity claims over 3.4 million lives every year?
Interestingly, there are certain countries that stand out for having higher rates of
overweight people than the average and, if you keep on watching, you may be surprised
to discover which countries weigh heaviest on the scale, in this episode of the infographics
show, Fattest Countries in the World.
10 - United States of America It may not come as a surprise to anyone to
find the USA on this list since 31.8% of its population is currently classified as obese.
Renowned for being the birthplace of McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Dunkin’ Donuts, the USA is
infamous for its unhealthy diet and its supersized people.
As the country to whom most other countries look up to, America, it’s time to start
leading by example!
9 - Mexico You don’t have to travel too far before
you reach another country that is struggling with obesity problems.
Research shows that only recently has Mexico been introduced to processed and sugary foods,
and that the novelty of it may account for the huge rise in obesity rates in recent years.
Similar to its neighbor, 32.8% of the Mexican population is classified as overweight; it
might be time to cut down on those tacos and churros, and start considering a more vegetable-oriented
diet!
8 - Qatar Qatar may be proud to be known as the richest
nation in the world but that bragging comes to a quick halt when you take a look at the
effects it has had on the country’s eating habits!
With its rapid increase in wealth, thanks to Qatar’s natural resources, the country
has quickly adopted a Western-style food and diet which, when combined with Qataris’
sedentary lifestyle, is greatly responsible for causing obesity among 33.1% of its population.
7 - South Africa Although Africa is more commonly known as
having severe food shortages, South Africa managed to find its way onto this list.
One way to explain the 33.5% of obesity among South Africans is that, despite the poverty
and hunger that exists there, this developing country struggles with severe inequality and
extreme corruption leading to inadequate food distribution and horrific malnourishment.
Shockingly, the number of obese people in South Africa has quadrupled in recent years,
with huge increases in deaths from heart attacks and strokes, both of which are easily connected
to weight problems.
6 - United Arab Emirates Research explains that the culprit behind
the United Arab Emirates’ 33.7% obese population is the country’s quick increase in wealth
from its oil industry.
With the unexpected and rapid growth of UAE’s prosperity came Western fast food chains and
an increase in junk food, resulting in the country having an obesity rate that is double
the world average and 19% of its population suffering from diabetes.
Experts claim that diabetes did not exist in UAE a couple of decades ago but that, due
to massive change in the country’s diet, the number of people with this disease has
skyrocketed in the last few years.
5 - Egypt Another African country makes it into this
undesirable list and experts say that, like many other unexpected countries on this list,
it is due to Egypt’s rapid economic growth and industrialization that 34.6% of its population
is struggling with obesity.
Research shows that there is very little correlation between obesity and social class and that
it affects the entire country indiscriminately.
This is because both lower-income and upper income families are eating fast food regularly.
Shockingly, Egypt hits first place as the country with the highest number of diabetics
in the world and, sadly, it is also known for having an alarming 32% of children in
the obese category.
4 - Belize This Central American country has only started
gaining notoriety for its obesity index in the last couple of years.
From being a country that never stood out for weight-related issues, recent studies
have found that 34.9% of the Belizean population are within the obese spectrum.
Shocked into action by this surprising revelation, Belize’s Ministry of Health and the Food
and Agriculture Organization have published some food based dietary guidelines to encourage
their population to be more mindful of the food they consume and their general well being.
3 - Saudi Arabia The largest country in the Arabian Peninsula,
35.2% of Saudi Arabia’s population struggles with obesity.
Unlike many other countries on this list, however, obesity-related issues are not covered
by Saudi health insurance, meaning that hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent every
year to address weight-related problems.
One of the most common is, of course, diabetes, a disease that has increased by 30% among
the population in only 10 years!
2 - Kuwait In the last few years, this small country
on the Arabian Peninsula has risen to being one of the fattest nations on earth.
With 42.8% of its population falling into the category of obesity, Kuwait boasts of
three times as many overweight people than the global average of 13%.
Reports have suggested that it is, unsurprisingly, their insatiable love of fast food that puts
Kuwaitis on this list, which has, in turn, dramatically increased the number of stomach
stapling surgeries taking place in this country.
1 - Nauru While some have claimed that the whooping
45.10% obesity rate in this South Pacific island is due to the fact that islanders are
genetically predisposed to gaining weight easily, studies show that this kind of reasoning
is predominantly flawed.
In fact, Westerners may be the ones to blame for the huge obesity rates in Nauru and in
many of its neighboring islands.
The reason?
Reports explain that, when colonizers first arrived in these tropical paradises, they
brought with them their Western ways of cooking, teaching the local people to fry their fresh
fish and vegetables rather than eating them raw as they had been doing, and thus introducing
them to a fattier and unhealthier diet.
Are you surprised by these numbers?
Then make sure you don’t become part of these statistics!
Eat your fruit and veggies, avoid that junk food, and put your running shoes on, for god's
sake.
It’s never too late to make a new year’s resolution!
If you were overweight and managed to shed the extra pounds, lets us know how you did
it in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video called What if you only drank coke and nothing
else!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!