A quarter of people worldwide will be obese by 2045: Study

Owing to current lifestyle trends, almost a quarter (22 per cent) of the people in the world will be obese by 2045, up from 14 per cent in 2017, researchers say.

The startling projections, presented at 2018 European Congress on Obesity in Vienna, also demonstrated that the prevalence of diabetes will increase from 9.1 per cent to 11.7 per cent by 2045, which will result in one out of eight people around the world to suffer from Type-2 diabetes.

"These numbers underline the staggering challenge the world will face in the future in terms of numbers of people who are obese, or have Type-2 diabetes, or both. As well as the medical challenges these people will face, the costs to countries' health systems will be enormous," said Alan Moses, Chief Medical Officer at the Novo Nordisk -- a Denmark-based healthcare company.

According to the researchers, in order to prevent the prevalence of Type-2 diabetes from going above 10 per cent in 2045, global obesity levels must be reduced by 25 per cent.

For the study, the population of all countries from 2000-2014 was divided into age groups which was further sub divided on the basis of body mass index (BMI). The diabetes risk for each age and BMI group was then applied, allowing estimations of diabetes prevalence for each country each year.

The researchers said that, immediate action will not result in reversing the epidemic of diabetes and obesity quickly, however, it is essential to prevent new cases of obesity and diabetes.

"Despite the challenge all countries are facing with obesity and diabetes, the tide can be turned - but it will take aggressive and coordinated action to reduce obesity and individual cities should play a key role in confronting the issues around obesity, some of which are common to them all and others that are unique to each of them," Moses said.