Behold: the world's 10 fattest countries

It's a big world, after all. We're talking to you, American Samoa. Kiribati, too.
Laurie Cunningham
By Laurie Cunningham — Special to GlobalPost
Published: November 25, 2009 15:27 ET in Commerce
The world is growing smaller. And larger. See our list of the world's 10 fattest countries below. Here, a man walks past the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Aug. 17, 2009. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters) Click to enlarge photo

6) Bosnia-Herzegovina, 62.9 percent

Once considered a problem only in high-income countries, obesity is dramatically on the rise in low- and middle-income countries like Bosnia-Herzegovina, where smoking, drinking and eating unhealthy foods spiked during the war that ravaged the country from 1992 to 1995. Those living just above the poverty line in developing countries are gaining weight the fastest, partly because of the tendency to fill up on cheap processed foods high in calories and low on nutritional value.

7) New Zealand, 62.7 percent

In a study at the University of Otago, researchers found that how much time New Zealand children spend watching television is a better predictor of obesity than what they eat or how much they exercise. The study found that 41 percent of the children who were overweight by age 26 were those who had watched the most TV. Television is not the only reason New Zealanders are gaining weight, but it’s one modern development often cited for growing childhood obesity.

8) Israel, 61.9 percent

In the past 30 years, the number of obese Israelis has tripled, evidence the country is truly part of the Western world. Like in most developed countries, flab is most prevalent among Israelis with less education, with Jewish women with college degrees having the lowest levels of obesity and Arab women with basic education having the highest.

9) Croatia, 61.4 percent

Croatia, where cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death, is also a victim of the globalization of the food market, which tends to suppress traditional diets as cheaper processed foods from the U.S. and Europe flood store shelves. Unlike other Europeans, Croatian men have higher rates of obesity than Croatian women, and tend to get even fatter as they age. It’s no wonder that a Croatian charity announced in June that it had created the world’s largest pair of jeans — the size of six tennis courts — stitched together from 8,023 donated pairs of jeans.

10) United Kingdom, 61 percent

Last month, The Observer begrudgingly reported that the heaviest man in the world was not in the U.S., but a 48-year-old Brit living in low-incoming housing in Ipswich “eating takeaways and playing computer games.” His weight: 980 pounds. British bellies are expanding for the same reasons as everywhere else. A recent survey, however, ranked Brits among the bottom third of European nations in physical exercise, leading Health Secretary Andy Burnham to comment, "We're really in danger of being known as the best in the world for watching sport, but one of the worst for getting out there and doing it for ourselves."

(Other countries to look out for: Australia, Chile, Mexico)

Tags

Post new comment

CAPTCHA
Please type the two wavy words in the box below, then click "submit."

The author was careful not to

Submitted by dangerbird9 on November 27, 2009 00:31 .

The author was careful not to mention sugars and carbohydrates as the probable cause of the obesity problem.

We have to consider the fact

Submitted by Dave on November 27, 2009 00:34 .

We have to consider the fact that most of our meat comes from factory farms that mishandle the animals and contaminate them. This includes farm raised sea food. On top of this there is so much produced, we are eating to much meat.

I've repeatedly heard that

Submitted by naj0rt on November 27, 2009 00:36 .

I've repeatedly heard that Australia is one of the fattest countries in the world but we're not on the list woohoo. Here's a demotivator for countries that are on it...

http://500motivators.com/motivate/me/obecity-eat-more-fish-fatty/

I'm sure your stats are

Submitted by tsicby on November 27, 2009 02:25 .

I'm sure your stats are factual, but someone should school you in "context". Do we really need to be juxtaposing facts that communicate the idea that "Jewish women in Israel are well educated, slim and trim while Arab women are a bunch of uneducated fatties." I mean, is it not enough that Arab women in Israel have to be denied basic civil rights, their familial homes, clean water, proper health care and nutrition? We now have to sting some facts together to create the impression that they're losers as well?

A meaningless article, that

Submitted by ThomasT on November 27, 2009 09:44 .

A meaningless article, that fails to give accurate information on the causes of obesity, and is full of omissions.

With the swine flu/vax fraud in progress, the WHO has little credibilty anyway.

Lets start with the omsssions, because if these are not addressed, whatever diet one may be on, these factors will work against efforts to lose fat.

Many medications, such as for high blood pressure, depression, arthritis etc.cause obesity.

The pathways to obesity of 2 commonly ingested neurotoxins, monosodium glutamate, E621, a flavour enhancer; and Aspartame, an artificial sweetener, have been identified.

Unfermented soy contains phyto-oestrogens that mimic female hormones, and play havoc with the thyroid, causing obesity.

All grains contain lectin plant compounds that desensitise cell membranes to insulin, causing insulin overproduction, aiding obesity.

Grains also contain leptin plant hormones that interrupt signalling between the liver and pancreas, aiding obesity.

Carbohydrates are digested to sugars. These enter the bloodstream, and then, as glucose, first top up the glucose storage, (glycogen), in the muscle and liver. The rest is rapidly converted to bodyfat via the cells` Krebs Cycle, unless vigorous exercise is taking place.

However, digested fat is very slowly converted to glucose by the liver, not to bodyfat.

A high cartbohydrate intake, as advised by the stupid food pyramids, as well as accelerating obesity, raise heart disease causing tri-glycerides.

Any talk of fat/calories is meaningless, as the body has various homeostasis mechanisms, that slow down or speed up metabolic rate, (MR), depending on what, when, how little or how much is eaten.

One such mechanism, thermic effect, is bone structure dependent. A light boned ectomorph, has a high MR rise after a meal, and would burn-off even half gallon of ice cream. A heavy boned endomorph would gain fat on a small slice of apple pie, due to amuch lower MR rise.

Advising against eating (saturated) fats, (as advised by docs. and dieticians duped by the 1953 cholesterol hoax), loses valuable nutrients.

eg Butter contains the omegas fatty acids in perfect proportion, arichidonic acid, short and medium chain fatty acids, and conjugated linoleic acids. Also present are selenium, iodine, manganese, zinc, chromium, and lecithin. Butter synthesises vitamin B6 through the friendly intestinal bacteria to lower heart disease-causing homocysteine. Malhotra S L Dr Lancet 1975.

Ms Cunningham exposes herself to my criticism by reprinting the theoretical garbage given out by the WHO, Med. Assns, docs and dieticians, without first doing a little serious research, and opening her physiology textbook.

Dead on, Thomas T. Excellent

Submitted by JamesRizzuti on November 27, 2009 12:12 .

Dead on, Thomas T. Excellent commentary. I might add that row-cropping for generations has stripped the soils of essential trace minerals, and their abscense lends heavily to the metabolic disorders that are multiplying. But no minerals are going to make up for the metabolic devastation by way of processed carbohydrate which is flooding world markets. Diabetes will be a primary grim reaper in the decades to come; that is if we are not first levelled by viral pandemics given traction by malnutrition.

"Ms Cunningham exposes

Submitted by Skiddy Joe on March 5, 2010 09:53 .

"Ms Cunningham exposes herself to my criticism by reprinting the theoretical garbage given out by the WHO, Med. Assns, docs and dieticians, without first doing a little serious research, and opening her physiology textbook."

Pardon me ThomasT. Not to nit pic, but even the little things exposes you as well.
ie: correct spelling *Dietitian

Ms. Cunningham you need to

Submitted by Perfect on November 27, 2009 11:58 .

Ms. Cunningham you need to travel more and see our butifull Bosnia and Herzegopvina and acctualy see the stuff you write about...this artical you wrote is wrong...do not try to spread the load to my country so you can feel better...we are not fat nation ever...you came up with this story laying in your bed on 24th Nov 2009 assumin stuff......centar for statistics in my coutry did not give you this info because one does not exist for this purpose....this post is silly...travel women travel it my help...the point is i can prove this...

"American Samoa" is not a

Submitted by Tom Prezelski on November 27, 2009 13:02 .

"American Samoa" is not a country, but a Territory of the United States. The "six island nation" the writer refers to is simply "Samoa." This may seem like nitpicking, but it is acually important to the story, since there may be economic differences between the American-governed islands and the adjacent ones that would affect diet and lifestyle.

A great article that really

Submitted by simonparagon on November 27, 2009 13:59 .

A great article that really hits home just how bad the obesity problem is. Part of the problem is that high calorie food is available cheaply and easily and that with cars and modern gadgets we dont get enough exercise. Maybe if few more people were to take up an activity such as cycling, see http://wickfordwheels.blogspot.com/ as an example then not only could people lose weight, they would also be fitter and happier.

I don't know exactly why it

Submitted by fekkot on December 9, 2009 10:36 .

I don't know exactly why it is so much easier to convince smaller European countries like Denmark (which has massive road areas just for bikers), but near impossible to convince Britons or especially Americans. I'm thinking it's a large variety of things, from Americans being too hooked too long on car culture to a sizeable portion of Americans not believing in the greenhouse effect(giving even less motivation to change.) Also, since about the last 15 years, it's been impossible even to get "natural" foods that aren't loaded with sugars. I remember all too well in college how hard it was even to convince students not to take the elevator up (or worse yet, down) one floor.

BMI isn't a great scale to

Submitted by samuel2 on November 27, 2009 14:04 .

BMI isn't a great scale to measure if you're fat.

I think the most important

Submitted by Dr Alok Bhattac... on November 27, 2009 14:10 .

I think the most important factor along with excess eating is not getting enough oxygen to convert that excess glucose to energy.

Because of the growing need for less physical work, many people need less energy than their ancestors. But the body's desire to eat as much as possible has not changed as it constantly fears of starving to death.

In earlier times, whatever most people ate was used up. But that does not happen anymore.

Plus as we sit indoors and often too many together, the level of oxygen falls off. Most classrooms, work places and transport carriages are not properly ventilated. Oxygen depletes, carbon-di-oxide level goes up. As a result there is very little chance of burning excess sugar obtained from food away. Hence the epidemic rise of obesity along with diabetes and cancer.

Poor people who have to do hard maual work outdoors seldom get obese, get diabetic or get cancer.

If you need more on oxygen depletion and cancer, just google 'Warburg Hypothesis' and see for yourself. But no government to my knowledge imposes mandatory oxygen level measurements in workplaces and classrooms.

Nice article and it's the

Submitted by Ned on December 17, 2009 11:47 .

Nice article and it's the truth some like it or not. look around you, eastern europeans (croatians and bosnians) are fatter then ever....thanks to american garbage food and lifestyle

"look around you, eastern

Submitted by Skiddy Joe on March 5, 2010 10:02 .

"look around you, eastern europeans (croatians and bosnians) are fatter then ever....thanks to american garbage food and lifestyle" - Ned

Yeah, and I'm sure each one of them had a gun held up to their heads and were told to eat all those big macs, while playing the latest MMORPG 9hrs a day in their bedroom.

In America we are victims of

Submitted by jakedog on February 16, 2010 08:43 .

In America we are victims of our own success. We pay the price every day with increased healthcare costs as our society continues to fill itself up on fast food, trans fats and statin drugs. And the liberals in congress think socialized healthcare is the cure. It is not the cure. It's a one way ticket to economic malaise. The solution begins with the individual. You have to make up your mind. Do you want to be healthy or unhealthy? There is no drug or government program that is going to help you decide. You've got to do it yourself.

Excellent site, keep up the

Submitted by bittubunty on June 17, 2010 03:55 .

Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read…

Obesity is really a very

Submitted by thames.john on June 24, 2010 02:31 .

Obesity is really a very dangerous disease. Nowadays, a lot more and a lot more people are seriously exercising to keep their bodies wholesome and fit. Exercising frequently assist ease the worries on weight gain, obtaining fat or getting sick. You are able to keep your muscles toned and you are able to also stay young searching with exercises. Here in our center - Meth Addition Treatment there are various patients who are also suffering from obesity and fats. Therefore, we recommend them to do exercise and workouts and also take nutritious food. It'll help them in reducing their weight.

We have to consider the fact

Submitted by mike2000 on July 19, 2010 14:26 .

We have to consider the fact that most of our meat comes from factory farms that mishandle the animals and contaminate them. This includes farm raised sea food. On top of this there is so much produced, we are eating to much meat.

Dispatches: Commerce

GlobalBlogs: Commerce