health layer
Adult Obesity Rate
Age-standardized share of adults aged 18 and older with obesity (BMI ≥ 30), both sexes. This is a WHO official modelled estimate, not a census of obese adults and not a ranking of how healthy countries are.
Methodology
Values are WHO Global Health Observatory NCD_BMI_30A: age-standardized prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30) among adults aged 18 and older, both sexes. The original producer is the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC); WHO GHO is the official atlas reprint and the import path. Direct NCD-RisC paper CSVs, crude obesity (NCD_BMI_30C), overweight (NCD_BMI_25A), sex-specific series, World Bank WDI obesity or overweight codes, OWID, and IHME are not used. The figure is the age-standardized share of adults aged 18 and older with BMI of 30 or higher, using the WHO standard population so countries with different age structures can be compared. It is not the crude share of today's adults with obesity, not overweight (BMI ≥ 25), not self-reported BMI, not body-fat percentage, not diabetes, not a health-system score, and not a ranking of how healthy countries are. A high obesity rate is not a verdict on a health system. A low obesity rate is not automatically healthy. Values are internationally harmonized modelled estimates from pooled measured height and weight studies. GHO confidence intervals are not mapped; the layer shows official point estimates only. Source revisions can alter historical values. 2025 is not imported. OurBlueDot does not interpolate, fill missing years, carry the last value forward, replace missing values with zero, average sex-specific series, mix GHO with NCD-RisC CSV vintages, use country-specific BMI cutoffs, or import child obesity. Country rows are joined by ISO 3166-1 alpha-3; non-UN territories, including GHO entity PSE, are not added to the country registry. Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino remain without a value. Map ranks are comparable-sample competition ranks among currently loaded countries (rank 1 is the highest age-standardized adult obesity prevalence). Highest obesity is not a verdict on a health system. Lowest obesity is not automatically healthy. Missing countries remain without a value.
Coverage & source
- Source
- WHO Global Health Observatory (NCD-RisC)
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- Period
- 2024
- Frequency
- With WHO GHO / NCD-RisC restatements
Rankings, where shown, describe only countries with comparable values in the selected period. Rank 1 is the highest age-standardized adult obesity prevalence, not the least healthy country. A higher rank does not mean a less healthy country. A lower rank does not mean a healthier country.