THE PREVALENCE OF OBESITY IN THE WORLD AND SPAIN
The prevalence of obesity has risen at an alarming rate in the past two decades, as much the number of individuals as the grade of obesity suffered. It has reached the level of a true pandemic, named by the World Health Organization (WHO) the “Epidemic of the 21st Century".
Obesity is the most frequent nutritional disorder in developed countries.. It is estimated that there are more than 1000 million people in the world with obesity. In the United States 65% of the adult population and 15% of children present with a ponderal overload and the most worrisome is that there has not been a declining trend in these estimates in the most current studies.
According to a recent study done by the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity, SEEDO 2000, the prevalence of obesity in Spain is greater than in countries in Northern Europe like Sweden, Denmark, Holland, or France, but less than Great Britain and the United States. It is estimated that the prevalence of obesity is around 14.5% in the population aged 25 to 60. It was significantly more elevated in females, with 15.75% and 13.9% in males. 0.5% of the population was classified as morbidly obese, also with a greater percentage occurring in females. In terms of being overweight, 39% of the population is considered as such, with a ratio of 45% of males and 32% of females. The prevalence of obesity in Spanish population increases with age as much in males as in females, with proportionally more elevated level in the age group of 55-60.