The estimated cost? $4 trillion per year
, more than half of the global population—51%, or over 4 billion people—will have obesity by 2035, and the condition will touch all regions and continents of the world. The total cost of treating illnesses related to obesity will be an estimated $4 trillion per year, which is about how much the COVID-19 pandemic cost the world in health care expenses in 2020.
The new projection marks a sharp jump from current 2023 numbers. Right now, about 3.12 billion people have obesity. But 15 years ago, in 2008, theThe WOA, a non-governmental organization which files its reports with both the World Health Organization and the U.N., surveyed current obesity rates and trends in 180 different countries to arrive at its newly projected figures.
The WOA posits a lot of causes for the current trend beyond the growing global popularity of cheap, highly processed Western style food. Also to blame are so-called obesogens, or chemical pollutants like bisphenol A that act as endocrine disruptors and are found in plastics, food packaging, household furnishings, paints, cosmetics, and more. Things only get worse when obesogens and poor diet co-occur.
“The increase in ultraprocessed foods in countries globally, particularly lower-middle income countries,” the report states, “is likely to increase plastic-based products [in food packaging] and plastic waste. In turn, the exposure to obesogenic pollutants may rise rapidly.” That is only part of the report’s discouraging takeaway. “Every nation is affected by obesity, with some lower income countries showing the highest increases in the last decade,” the authors write. “No country has reported a decline in obesity prevalence across their entire population. While preventing and treating obesity requires financial investment, the cost of failing to prevent and treat obesity will be far higher.
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