What share of adults are obese in each country?
WHO's age-standardised estimate of the share of adults with a BMI of 30 or more in 2024 has a median of 22.31% across 199 countries and territories, from 2.40% in Vietnam to 75.87% in American Samoa; in the 14 countries where OECD holds measured and self-reported surveys for the same year, the self-reported figure is lower in 12.
% of adults aged 18+ with a body mass index of 30 or more, age-standardised
0%15%30%45%60%
Year varies by country (2024) · grey: no figure
Latest figure for each country
Too small or not separate on this map: Tokelau, Tuvalu. Each colour is one figure per country: one year, not an average, for the year shown in the ranking and when you point at a country.With "How sure" on, hatching marks countries whose latest figure has a trust score below 60 (Low or Very low).
All countries
Each source's value links to its publisher; point at it for the source and year. A value in brackets is shown but doesn't count, and pointing at it says why. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
About this data
Every source on this page (9)
Who is behind the sources
- 100% International body
- University or journal: shown, not counted
Each publisher, its funding and its own description
- World Health Organization (WHO) · International bodyFunding: Assessed contributions (membership dues) from member states, plus voluntary contributions from member states and other partners. sourceIn its own words: “…WHO is the United Nations agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health…” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
- OECD · International bodyFunding: Contributions from its member countries, set by a formula based on the size of each economy, plus voluntary contributions. sourceIn its own words: “Our core aim is to set international standards and support their implementation…” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
- Eurostat · International bodyFunding: EU budget; Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The gender-based violence survey was run with the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), also EU-funded. sourceIn its own words: “Our mission is to provide high-quality statistics and data on Europe.” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
- NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) · University or journal, shown but not counted hereFunding: Core funding for the database is provided by the Wellcome Trust, with specific analyses also funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Research England, the European Union, WHO, NCD Alliance, the US CDC and a charitable grant from the AstraZeneca Young Health Programme. sourceIn its own words: “…network of health scientists around the world that provides rigorous and timely data on risk factors for non-communicable diseases…” source, retrieved 2026-11-02
- WHO Global Health Observatory, NCD_BMI_30A (the NCD-RisC model), age-standardisedUsed for 199 countries; counts toward 199. Years 2024. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Open the publisher's page
- OECD Health Statistics, share of population who are obese, measured dataUsed for 24 countries; counts toward 23. Years 2008 to 2025. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Not counted where: OECD files this series as measured but names perceived height and weight for 2022 to 2024.Open the publisher's page
- WHO Global Health Observatory, NCD_BMI_30C, crudeUsed for 199 countries; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2024. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Not counted where: it republishes WHO.Open the publisher's page
- NCD-RisC, age-standardised obesity, women, adults 20+Used for 199 countries; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2024. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Not counted where: women only, from the same model as the WHO line.Open the publisher's page
- NCD-RisC, age-standardised obesity, men, adults 20+Used for 199 countries; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2024. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Not counted where: men only, from the same model as the WHO line.Open the publisher's page
- OECD Health Statistics, share of population who are obese, self-reported dataUsed for 38 countries; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2019 to 2025. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Not counted where: self-reported height and weight, not the measured, age-standardised number this page defines; it republishes Eurostat EHIS.Open the publisher's page
- Eurostat, European Health Interview Survey, hlth_ehis_bm1eUsed for 32 countries; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2014 to 2019. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Not counted where: self-reported height and weight, not the measured, age-standardised number this page defines.Open the publisher's page
- OECD Health Statistics, WHO estimate filed under measured dataUsed for 9 countries; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2022. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Not counted where: it republishes WHO.Open the publisher's page
- OECD Health Statistics, WHO estimate filed under self-reported dataUsed for 4 countries; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2014. Retrieved 2026-11-02.Not counted where: it republishes WHO.Open the publisher's page
Why the numbers differ (7)
- Measured or self-reported. In the 14 countries where OECD holds both kinds of survey for one year, the self-reported figure is lower in 12, by a median of 4.30 percentage points. The widest gaps are Chile in 2009 (25.1% measured, 12.1% self-reported), Hungary in 2019 (33.2% measured, 23.9% self-reported), United Kingdom in 2017 (28.7% measured, 21.0% self-reported). These surveys can have different samples and age limits, and OECD says Chile's self-reported figures for 2000 to 2015 came from a visual self-assessment. Self-reported lines are shown but not counted. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Age-standardised or crude. WHO's main line weights each age group by the WHO standard population, so countries with different age structures can be compared. A crude figure uses the country's real ages, as most surveys here do. This page's number is age-standardised, so crude surveys count at half weight. WHO's crude figure for 2024 is higher than its age-standardised one in 97 of 199 countries and territories, such as the United States (41.83% against 40.96%), and lower in others, such as Japan (5.19% against 5.90%). (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Survey age limits. WHO covers ages 18 and over, NCD-RisC 20 and over, Eurostat's rows here 18 and over, and OECD aims for 15 and over. OECD's country notes give other limits: 30 and over in Finland's measured series, 25 to 74 in Portugal, 20 to 74 in the United States (age-adjusted), and 21 and over in Israel's self-reported series. Each line's note gives its own. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- WHO and NCD-RisC are one model. WHO's metadata names the NCD-RisC paper for its data and method, but it covers ages 18 and over and publishes both sexes, while NCD-RisC covers 20 and over and publishes women and men. For 2024, WHO's figures for women and men differ from NCD-RisC's by 0.76 percentage points on average, and at most 1.98. The model is counted once. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Some OECD rows are not surveys. For Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa, Thailand and Ukraine, OECD's "measured" series is WHO's crude estimate from an earlier release, and for China, India, Indonesia and South Africa its "self-reported" series comes from WHO's World Health Statistics. They are shown but not counted. OECD's "measured" series for South Korea names perceived height and weight for 2022 to 2024, so it is not counted either. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- One survey, two age bands. For 10 European countries OECD's latest self-reported year comes from the same 2019 European Health Interview Survey as the Eurostat line. OECD often uses ages 15 and over and Eurostat's rows use 18 and over, so the OECD figure is usually a little lower. It is shown but not counted. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Years. The model gives a figure for every year up to 2024, including years with no survey in that country. Survey lines show the year of the latest survey, which can be much older.
Common mistakes (4)
- A modelled figure for 2024 does not mean a survey was done in that country in 2024. WHO's method pools studies and accounts for differences in data across countries and years. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- OECD says the United Kingdom's self-reported figures from 2021 cover England, are adjusted to match measured heights and weights, and are not comparable with other countries. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- BMI is weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared, so this page counts a ratio of weight to height. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Do not compare an age-standardised line with a crude one for the same country: set the WHO crude line beside a crude survey. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
Context (6)
- WHO's world figure for 2024 is 16.17% of adults, age-standardised (16.2 [15.7-16.7], in WHO's rounding). Retrieved 2026-11-02.
- WHO: definition and method of the obesity indicators. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
- NCD-RisC, Nature 2026: the paper behind the model, open access. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
- OECD Health Statistics 2026: sources and methods for each country, measured data. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
- OECD Health Statistics 2026: sources and methods for each country, self-reported data. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
- Eurostat: method of the European Health Interview Survey. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
Sources considered and not used (8)
- WHO GHO OData API (ghoapi.azureedge.net): It returned a server error on 2 November 2026, so the same indicators were taken from WHO's xMart API. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- data.who.int obesity page: It shows an official estimate updated 29 February 2024, older than the release of 27 May 2026 in WHO's API, so it was not used. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- NCD-RisC both-sexes figure: NCD-RisC publishes women and men, not both sexes, and an average of the two would be our own figure. Its lines are shown but not counted, and WHO's both-sexes figure carries the model. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Taiwan: NCD-RisC has women and men for Taiwan, but WHO, OECD and Eurostat have no row for it, so there is no both-sexes figure to show. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Eurostat EU-SILC table ilc_hch10: Another self-reported Eurostat survey. It was not downloaded separately: OECD's rows already use it for some countries and years, as each line's note says. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- France: ENNS (2006) and Esteban (2015): OECD's measured series for France joins three separate studies. The line keeps only the latest, Constances (2017), so the studies are not spliced. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Earlier studies in other OECD measured series: The same applies where OECD joins separate studies. Left out: Australia before 2007, Belgium 2018, Canada before 2011, Finland before 2022, the United Kingdom before 1991, Hungary before 2009, Ireland before 2015, South Korea before 2022, Mexico before 2005, New Zealand before 2012, Slovakia before 2008 and Türkiye before 2017. (source, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- National survey files (NHANES, Health Survey for England and others): They feed the OECD lines and were not downloaded separately for each country.
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- Cite as: RealStats, “What share of adults are obese in each country?”, updated 2026-11-02, with the original sources listed on the page. Scores use formula version 1.0.
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