India Has Over 135 Million Obese People and Tracking to 430 Million in 2030

India has over 135 million obese individuals at present according to a 2020 study in Indian Journal of Community Medicine. India has the double burden of many under-nourished (starving or stunted) people and many others who are overweight. The proportion of obesity in the population of young adults was 42.01% and that of NWO (normal-weight obesity) was 16.1%. Central body fat (BF) measurements are a reliable predictor of metabolic diseases. Normal weight obesity is where the weight is normal but there is high level of central body fat.

A report by National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) predicted that by 2030, 27.8 percent of all those overweight in the world would be Indians, and in terms of obesity, the ‘Indian Obese’ would account for 5 percent of the world’s population.

There will be about 8.5 billion people in the world in 2030. This projection is that about 430 million people in India will be obese in 2030. This is also projecting about 1.6 billion people will be obese in 2030.

Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese. 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese.

The WHO (world health organization) defines overweight and obesity as follows:

overweight is a BMI greater than or equal to 25; and
obesity is a BMI greater than or equal to 30.

Someone who is 5 feet 11 inches (180.3 cm) tall who weighed 215 pounds (97.5 kg) or more would be considered obese.
Someone who is 5 feet 11 inches tall who weighed 180-214 pounds (81.6kg-97.4kg) would be considered overweight.
The average group of overweight 5 ft 11 inch people might currently weigh 197 lbs. The projection is over half of the overweight will add 17 lbs or more to become obese.

SOURCES- WHO, National Centre for Biotechnology Information, Indian Journal of Community Medicine
Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.

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