• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Where US is ranked on 'world's fattest countries' as truth revealed around rising obesity crisis

Home> News> US News

Updated 09:49 22 Apr 2025 GMT+1Published 20:50 21 Apr 2025 GMT+1

Where US is ranked on 'world's fattest countries' as truth revealed around rising obesity crisis

Shockingly, around two in every five Americans are considered obese, as the world grabbles with an obesity problem

Joe Yates

Joe Yates

More than a third of the global population is considered to be overweight, but where exactly does the US fit into a ranking of the 'world's fattest countries'?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than one billion obese people living on Earth - broken down into 890 million adults and tragically 160 million children, while there's a further 1.84 billion considered overweight.

It's safe to say that the human race, which boasts of a population of eight billion, is going through an obesity crisis.

Advert

In America specifically, in 32 years between 1990 and 2022 there has been sharp rise in obesity in the nation.

Figures for the early '90s put the US 17th on the male international obesity list, with 16.37 percent of men recording a body mass index (BMI) level of at least 30.

The world is currently battling with an obesity problem (Getty stock)
The world is currently battling with an obesity problem (Getty stock)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the formula used to estimate a patient's BMI is dividing weight in pounds by height in inches squared, then multiplying the result by 703.

Advert

A BMI result of between 18.5 and 24.9 is generally considered a healthy weight, although it differs for each individual.

By 2022, 41.92 percent of American men were considered obese - that's an increase from roughly one in six obese men in the US in 1990, to almost two in five two people.

It has meant they've jumped from seven spots up the list to break into the top 10, where the US sits 10th - for male obesity rates.

Meanwhile, American women have jumped 10 spots on the list - although the US does not feature in the top 30 fattest countries in terms of females.

Advert

In 1990, one in five women in America were considered obese - 20.5 percent, fast-forward 32 years that figure now stands at 43.8 percent, which equates to two in five women, and 31st in the global female obesity list.

Notably, obesity rates for women in the States were higher than their male counterparts both when the WHO's data was first collated and in 2022 when it was last released.

Roughly two in every five Americans are considered obese (Getty stock)
Roughly two in every five Americans are considered obese (Getty stock)

WHO's male obesity list top 10

  1. American Samoa, 70.17%
  2. Nauru, 69.35%
  3. Tokelau, 65.8%
  4. Cook Islands, 64.84%
  5. Niue, 63.74%
  6. Tonga, 61.31%
  7. Tuvalu, 57.07%
  8. Samoa, 50.01%
  9. French Polynesia, 46.66%
  10. US, 41.92%

WHO's female obesity list top 10

  1. American Samoa, 80.61%
  2. Tonga, 79.05%
  3. Samoa, 72.62%
  4. Tokelau, 72.49%
  5. Cook Islands, 71.51%
  6. Nauru, 71.01%
  7. Tuvalu, 70.98%
  8. Niue, 68.8%
  9. Marshall Islands, 56.39%
  10. Egypt, 56.01%
Featured Image Credit: Getty stock

Topics: Health, World News

Joe Yates
Joe Yates

Joe is a journalist for UNILAD, who particularly enjoys writing about crime. He has worked in journalism for five years, and has covered everything from murder trials to celeb news.

X

@JMYjourno

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Where US is ranked on 'world's fattest countries' as truth revealed around rising obesity crisis
  • Trump signs order officially banning people from these 12 countries entering the US
  • Americans warned to ‘reconsider travel’ to these 21 countries as government issues fresh travel ban
  • Why these three major countries were left off Trump's tariffs as full list is revealed

Choose your content:

an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    Police claim they've solved 1980 cold case murder after first suspect wrongly spent 20 years in prison

    Katharina Reitz Brow was murdered in 1980 after being stabbed multiple times

    News
  • an hour ago

    Everything we know about 'Ozempic penis' as more men speak out out on their experience with it

    Ozempic penis is a top search online, and there's a reason for it

    News
  • an hour ago

    Everyone's saying the same thing after seeing how many people actually attended Trump's $45,000,000 parade

    Donald Trump attended the military parade for his 79th birthday

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Chilling audio of emergency call reveals new details after two Democratic lawmakers were shot in their homes

    Lawmakers Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman were attacked on June 14 by a man who opposed abortion rights

    News