Pakistan may have most obese children by 2030

ISLAMABAD: A new report on childhood obesity has stated that Pakistan would be among the top ten countries in the world with the most obese children by 2030.

The study stated that in Pakistan 10.8 percent of five to nine-year-olds and 7.4 percent of 10 to 19-year-olds would be obese by 2030.

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The study further added, “Pakistan has zero percent chance, till now, of reaching its intended target of reducing obesity by 2025. There is no existence of any policies on the marketing of foods to children, policies to reduce physical inactivity and unhealthy diet, it notes.

According to the report of Atlas of Childhood Obesity published by the World Obesity Foundation, 5,412,457 children in the country, between the ages of 5-19 years, will be obese.

According to the study, more than 250 million school-aged children and adolescents will be classed as obese by 2030, there are currently 158 million obese children around the world.

According to the World Obesity Federation (WOF) first Atlas of Childhood Obesity, which calculated a risk score for obesity in the coming decade for 191 countries.

Over 250 million school-going children will be classified as obese by 2030, across the world, while there are currently 158 million children who fall in this category.

It is more than double the amount predicted for second-placed India, expected to have 27.4million obese children and teenagers in 2030.

In the list of countries predicted to have over one million school-age children and youth living with obesity in 2030, Pakistan ranked ninth, with China, India and the United States topped the list.

China is expected to be the worst affected, with an estimated 61.9million obese five- to-19-year-olds in just over a decade.

After China, India and the US, the top 10 is made up of Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, and South Africa.

The US is third with 16.9million, while the UK comes in 36th place, with an estimated 1.3million obese youngsters.